Gender, sex, and professional ethics in child and adolescent psychiatry

Ethics in child and adolescent psychiatry can be understood as a collective effort to reconcile three potentially conflicting sets of duties toward the minor patient, the parents of the minor patient, and the community. Therapists have a primary duty to the medical needs and the emerging autonomy of the minor patient and must take into account the anticipated needs of the adult that the child will become. Therapists also have a duty to respect the authority of parents in medical decision-making and to respect the community's interest in preventing harm to children. Conflicts arise when parental demands or refusals are inconsistent with ethically weighty interests of the child and when a community mandates professional actions that serve families badly. Examples of these are examined.