Article by Prof. Maria Boratyńska in the Latest Issue of the Medical Law Quarterly!

We invite you to read the new issue of the Medical Law Quarterly, which features an article by Prof. Maria Boratyńska, “Children also have the right to die in peace and dignity. About the harmful sustaining of the lives of children born with lethal malformations”.

The article addresses healthcare decisions concerning the youngest children with fatal congenital defects whose treatment offers no prospect of success. Polish cases are reviewed against the background of documented cases from the United Kingdom and the United States, most of which ended in well-reasoned court decisions. According to the author, the commonly applied criterion of the child’s welfare should translate into the child’s best interests, understood as a balance of benefits, enjoyment of life, burdens, discomfort and suffering. Drawing on foreign judgments and current medical knowledge, the author formulates criteria according to which decisions should be made on withdrawing therapy, including certain palliative measures: surgical corrections, artificial ventilation, and nutrition and hydration. Even feeding may, in certain circumstances, prove to bring no benefit or even be harmful. The right to die in peace and dignity should be respected, among other things, by sparing unnecessary suffering, even when this means shortening a life that is already coming to an end.

The article is available in the print edition and on the journal’s website .