Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)-diagnosis and moral policing; an ethical dilemma for paediatricians

摘要

We certainly live in interesting times; advertisements in the media and even in emergency departments enjoin those who have suffered injury to claim legal compensation from those who have wronged them, often on a 'no win no fee' basis.Although UK paediatrics has, thus far, been largely immune to this cultural shift, it has been argued that children should be able to sue parents for illnesses that might have been prevented by vaccination, for wrongful birth or for illness caused by passive smoking. No such cases have succeeded in the UK, perhaps reflecting the importance the legal system attaches to the integrity of the family as a social unit.