Can “best interests” justify child participation in medical research?

TL;DRAbstract

This paper will look at how the best interests test in English lawhas been extended from its traditional role in medical treatment cases tocases of administering innovative treatment and conducting medical research.In doing so, this paper seeks to pose one fundamental question: isthere sufficient justification for extending application of the best intereststest into the realm of research? This paper will focus on cases of innovativetreatment to illustrate that application of the best interests test in suchmatters is flawed because it focuses too narrowly on the interests of theindividual child participant rather than viewing that individual child as beingwithin a wider network of relationships. I propose that if we view“best interests” differently, through the lens of care theory, a theory thatemphasises human interdependency and mutually supporting relations,there is greater potential to effectively accommodate both sets of interestsinvolved and strike a more appropriate balance betwe

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper