Editing Pediatrics (section)

=== Parental authority and current medical issues ===
The majority of the time, parents have the authority to decide what happens to their child. Philosopher John Locke argued that it is the responsibility of parents to raise their children and that God gave them this authority. In modern society, Jeffrey Blustein, modern philosopher and author of the book ''Parents and Children: The Ethics of Family'', argues that parental authority is granted because the child requires parents to satisfy their needs. He believes that parental autonomy is more about parents providing good care for their children and treating them with respect than parents having rights.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Friedman|first=Lainie Ross|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/756393117|title=Children, families, and health care decision making|date=2004|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=0-19-925154-1|oclc=756393117}}</ref> The researcher Kyriakos Martakis, MD, MSc, explains that research shows parental influence negatively affects children's ability to form autonomy. However, involving children in the decision-making process allows children to develop their cognitive skills and create their own opinions and, thus, decisions about their health. Parental authority affects the degree of autonomy the child patient has. As a result, in Argentina, the new National Civil and Commercial Code has enacted various changes to the healthcare system to encourage children and adolescents to develop autonomy. It has become more crucial to let children take accountability for their own health decisions.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Martakis|first1=K.|last2=Schröder-Bäck|first2=P.|last3=Brand|first3=H.|date=2018-06-01|title=Developing child autonomy in pediatric healthcare: towards an ethical model|journal=Archivos Argentinos de Pediatria|volume=116|issue=3|pages=e401–e408|doi=10.5546/aap.2018.eng.e401|pmid=29756714|s2cid=46889502|issn=0325-0075|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In most cases, the pediatrician, parent, and child work as a team to make the best possible medical decision. The pediatrician has the right to intervene for the child's welfare and seek advice from an ethics committee. However, in recent studies, authors have denied that complete autonomy is present in pediatric healthcare. The same moral standards should apply to children as they do to adults. In support of this idea is the concept of paternalism, which negates autonomy when it is in the patient's interests. This concept aims to keep the child's best interests in mind regarding autonomy. Pediatricians can interact with patients and help them make decisions that will benefit them, thus enhancing their autonomy. However, radical theories that question a child's moral worth continue to be debated today.<ref name=":3" /> Authors often question whether the treatment and equality of a child and an adult should be the same. Author [[Tamar Schapiro]] notes that children need nurturing and cannot exercise the same level of authority as adults.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schapiro|first=Tamar|date=1999-07-01|title=What Is a Child?|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/233943|journal=Ethics|volume=109|issue=4|pages=715–738|doi=10.1086/233943|s2cid=170129444|issn=0014-1704|access-date=30 November 2021|archive-date=30 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130162622/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/233943|url-status=live}}</ref> Hence, continuing the discussion on whether children are capable of making important health decisions until this day.