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Ethical Principles for the Management of Children with Disorders of Sex Development: A Systematic Approach for Individual Cases

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Abstract

The Fifth World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights (Halifax Resolutions, http://www.lawrights.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=109, August 2009) adopted a resolution endorsing a new set of ethical guidelines for the management of infants and children with disorders of sex development (DSD) (Halifax Resolutions, http://www.lawrights.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=109, 2009), based on the ethical principles developed by our group. In this chapter, we outline these principles and explain their basis. The principles are intended as an ethical foundation for treatment decisions for DSD, especially regarding type and timing of genital surgery for infants and young children. These principles were formulated by an analytic review of clinician’s reasoning in particular cases, in relation to established principles of bioethics, in a process consistent with the Rawlsian concept of reflective equilibrium as the method for building ethical theory.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children’s Bioethics Centre, Royal Children’s Hospital, and University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Lynn Gillam

  2. Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Jacqueline K. Hewitt & Garry L. Warne

Authors
  1. Lynn Gillam
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  2. Jacqueline K. Hewitt
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  3. Garry L. Warne
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lynn Gillam .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Urology, The Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia

    John M. Hutson

  2. , Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, The Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia

    Garry L. Warne

  3. , Department of Gynaecology, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia

    Sonia R. Grover

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gillam, L., Hewitt, J.K., Warne, G.L. (2012). Ethical Principles for the Management of Children with Disorders of Sex Development: A Systematic Approach for Individual Cases. In: Hutson, J., Warne, G., Grover, S. (eds) Disorders of Sex Development. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22964-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22964-0_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-22963-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-22964-0

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