Medical research and the participation of children

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Full text here.

Should children have a say in their own medical care?
At what age is a child old enough to understand what his or her options are?
Do the rules change if it is an experimental treatment or a research trial?
What if the child, owing to mental illness, is not able to participate in the decision about treatment?

Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle will be discussing these and other ethical questions at a conference this coming Friday and Saturday (14 and 15 July) at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center, 2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66, Seattle. The conference is sponsored by the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics and is called "Current Controversies: Navigating Conflicts When Parents and Providers Disagree About Medical Care." For more information, visit the conference Web site.