The rights of the Child Patients

Children in Finland have the same entitlement to health and hospital care as adults. However, from time to time problems emerge in the treatment of children with cancer that are due to their parents.

A typical instance of this concerns children who cannot be given blood products because of their parents’ religious convictions. Some parents may forbid cancer treatment for their children because they are afraid of the side effects and place their trust in faith healing methods. These have not, however, proved to have any effect on cancer. Often, increasing knowledge diminishes mistrust and illnesses can be treated appropriately.

It is plain that parents’ convictions are to be respected as far as is possible. For example, the limit on the transfusion of red blood cells in the treatment of child leukemia can be kept at a lower level than normal, because doing so would not necessarily pose a threat to life, though it can result to some extent in a worsening of the child patient’s quality of life. But the actual treatment of disease cannot be altered in the hope that the need for blood transfusions would decrease, because doing so would endanger the child’s chances of recovering from the disease.

But sometimes the situation is such that no consensus is reached between the physician and the parents of the child patient. The child’s entitlement to appropriate treatment is then threatened. Lawmakers in Finland have made clear decisions on the issue. The laws on the rights of patients and on child welfare rule that the physician treating the child must take decisions concerning their treatment and if necessary implement a care order. Fortunately, care orders are hardly ever needed, but rather measures to ensure that a child receives the treatment she or he needs.

If the prognosis is good, as is often the case with cancer in children, the physician treating the child must ensure that the child is given the necessary treatment. For example, the results of the treatment of the most common form of cancer in children, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, are excellent providing that the child has received the right treatment. On the other hand, there are situations in which the denial of treatment may be the best solution concerning the child’s quality of life. Such an option is considered if the child’s cancer is recurrent and the chances of recovery are slim or non-existent.

Families in Finland are usually fairly enlightened and so there are rarely disputes concerning treatment. Society has created humanitarian and safety rules in case of such disputes. Children’s rights to treatment are therefore realized almost without exception.