Paediatricians' guidelines

London - Britain's leading paediatrics group issued guidelines yesterday advising doctors when they should let seriously ill …

London - Britain's leading paediatrics group issued guidelines yesterday advising doctors when they should let seriously ill children die.

The "framework for practice" by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is believed to be the first report ever to describe circumstances when treatment should be stopped or withdrawn. The report suggested treatment should be stopped if the child was brain dead, or in a permanent vegetative state and unable to relate to the outside world.

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