A nine-year old girl with a two year history of AIDS. At the time of the consultation, her disease had progressed, and it was the opinion of her physicians that she would probably die within the next six months. During the previous two years, she had multiple hospital admissions for treatment of various infections and for poor growth. In addition, she had developed chronic lung disease and required intravenous fluids for nutritional support. More recently, she had developed AIDS nephropathy that had progressed to end stage renal failure requiring daily peritoneal dialysis. She developed pneumonia, and was hospitalized with hypoxia that was compounded by the other aspects of her disease process. At the time of admission, her grandmother (guardian) requested that the patient not be told about the diagnosis of HIV or AIDS, and that information about the predicted terminal course of her disease be withheld from her. Members of the health care team were uncomfortable with this request and asked for an ethics consultation.
Waz, W.R (2010, March 12). The Need to Know: Disclosure of Information to Pediatric Patients | The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity. Retrieved April 10 2014, from
cbhd.org/content/need-know-disclosure-information-pediatric-patientsIt is proposed that The nine year old patient should be told about her condition.