Fertility preservation for transgender children and young people in paediatric healthcare: a systematic review of ethical considerations

McDougall, RJ (通讯作者),Univ Melbourne, Melbourne Sch Populat & Global Hlth, Ctr Hlth Equ, Melbourne, Vic 3010, Australia.
2022-12
Background While fertility preservation is recommended practice for paediatric oncology patients, it is increasingly being considered for transgender children and young people in paediatric care. This raises ethical issues for clinicians, particularly around consent and shared decision-making in this new area of healthcare. Methods A systematic review of normative literature was conducted across four databases in June 2020 to capture ethical considerations related to fertility counselling and preservation in paediatric transgender healthcare. The text of included publications was analysed inductively, guided by the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. Results Twenty-four publications were identified for inclusion. Four key ethical considerations emerged from this literature: access to fertility preservation, conscientious objection, decision-making capacity of children and young people, and shared decision-making. Conclusion In the identified literature, there is consensus that transgender children and young people should not be refused access to fertility preservation services solely due to their gender identity, and that clinicians with conscientious objections to fertility preservation for this group have an obligation to refer on to willing providers. Factors that create ethical complexity in this area of paediatric care include the child's age, mental health, and parents' views.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
卷号:48|期号:12|页码:1076-1082
ISSN:0306-6800|收录类别:SCIE
语种
英语
来源机构
University of Melbourne
被引频次(WOS)
1
被引频次(其他)
1
180天使用计数
2
2013以来使用计数
3
EISSN
1473-4257
出版年
2022-12
DOI
10.1136/medethics-2021-107702
学科领域
循证社会科学-综合
关键词
conscientious refusal to treat decision making ethics gender identity pediatrics
WOS学科分类
Ethics Medical Ethics Social Issues Social Sciences, Biomedical