DiscoverEssential Ethics
Essential Ethics
Claim Ownership

Essential Ethics

Author: The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne

Subscribed: 56Played: 668
Share

Description

Essential Ethics, from the Children’s Bioethics Centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) presents discussion of challenging cases that come up when treating children. Hear the most up-to-date thinking and draw knowledge from the ethics toolkit. After a decade or more of experience our team of world-recognised ethicists takes on the hardest cases. Essential Ethics is informative, interesting and always relevant. Hosted by Professor John Massie, a clinician and bioethicist at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.

76 Episodes
Reverse
In this episode of Essential Ethics, recorded at the 2025 National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, research nurse coordinator Cat Wood from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute explores the ethical challenges of advanced therapy clinical trials for children with rare genetic conditions. Focusing on gene therapy trials for inherited epilepsy, she examines issues of consent, disability, risk, and equity in research involving children with severe neurodisability. Cat highlights the importance of meaningful engagement with patients and families, offering thoughtful insights into the ethical complexities of developing potentially life-changing therapies. 
In this episode of Essential Ethics, recorded at the 2025 National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, Dr Ciara Earley explores the ethical challenges that arise when parental advocacy becomes increasingly demanding. Drawing on a real-world case, she examines how clinicians can balance responding to parental concerns with maintaining focus on the child’s best interests. Dr Earley presents a practical ethical framework to help healthcare teams navigate complex family dynamics while supporting both parents and clinicians in delivering high-quality paediatric care. 
In this episode of Essential Ethics, recorded at the 2025 National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, nurse Elise Burn explores the impact of social media on young people living with illness. In SickTok: Adolescent Illness, Identity, Privacy and the Role of the Clinician, she examines how online platforms can shape illness identity, influence health behaviours, and create new ethical challenges for clinicians. This thought-provoking presentation highlights the complexities of supporting adolescents in an increasingly digital world. 
In this episode of Essential Ethics, recorded at the 2025 National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, Emeritus Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner and Professor Lynn Gillam explore the ethical importance of talking with children about serious illness and dying. Drawing on decades of research and clinical experience, they examine truth-telling, the changing role of parents, and how conversations can be centred on a child’s lived experience rather than age alone. Their presentations and discussion offer compassionate, practical insights into supporting children, families, and clinicians through some of healthcare’s most challenging conversations. 
In this episode of Essential Ethics, recorded at the 2025 National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, social workers Dani Gold and Anna Lucia examine the ethical consequences of how family violence is documented in healthcare records. In If you hit someone with a frying pan, it’s not cooking, they argue that softened or minimising language can obscure harm and undermine patient dignity. Drawing on their expertise in family violence and child safety, they offer practical strategies for more accurate, respectful documentation and highlight why every response to violence carries ethical significance. 
loading
Comments