Andrew Bedner
Encyclopedia
Andrew Bedner is an American man at the center of a bioethical
Bioethics
Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy....

 controversy regarding the rights of parents to make medical decisions for children they have allegedly abused.

In August 2008, Bedner, a resident of White River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction, Vermont
White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States...

, was charged with intentionally injuring his eight-week-old daughter during a beating. The child's injuries proved severe, and Beder faced a long prison sentence if convicted, but he did not face murder charges, as his critically ill daughter, C.B., remained on life support.

The state of New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, where the child was hospitalized, sought to exclude Bedner from decisions regarding whether to remove his daughter from life support, citing his inherent conflict of interest in the case, because the girl's death might lead to a murder charge. The girl eventually did die, but the case generated considerable public debate and stimulated a controversy among bioethics scholars.

Dr. Jacob Appel
Jacob M. Appel
Jacob M. Appel is an American author, bioethicist and social critic. He is best known for his short stories, his work as a playwright, and his writing in the fields of reproductive ethics, organ donation, neuroethics and euthanasia....

 of Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital may refer to:*Mount Sinai Hospital, New York*Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto*Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute, Miami, Florida*Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland*Mount Sinai Hospital, Milwaukee...

 used the case to launch a drive for revising statutes governing parental decision-making in cases where abuse is alleged. According to Appel, such "dual motives" create a compelling reason for the state to suspend parental decision-making over end of life decisions. Leading bioethics scholar Thaddeus Mason Pope
Thaddeus Mason Pope
Thaddeus Mason Pope is an American bioethcist and law professor at Widener University. Pope is a leading authority of medical futility and the author of numerous articles on articles on law and medicine, including: more than nearly twenty law review and bar journal articles and over 25...

 recently profiled the case on his medical futility website.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK