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Sterilization and a Mentally Handicapped Minor: Providing Consent for One Who Cannot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

Gabrielle M. Applebaum
Affiliation:
A graduate in philosophy from the University of Chicago and is presently pursuing a Master's degree in Divinity at Harvard University
John La Puma
Affiliation:
Clinical Professor Medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and a Consultant in Clinical Ethics at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois

Extract

The moral standing of involuntary sterilization has long been subject to debate but has only recently been looked upon with disfavor. When sterilization of a mentally handicapped minor is entertained, issues of eugenics, medical ethics, and legal precedent specially arise. Ethics consultants and ethics committees have been asked to consider such cases.

Type
Special Section: Ethical Decision Making and Persons with Mental Retardation
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

Notes

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