Dr. John Lantos: Children's Mercy Hospital Expert Introduction

Dr. John Lantos

pediatric bioethics. Bioethics examines areas of pediatrics or medicine where doctors or patients or families aren't sure what the right thing to do is. I need somebody to be a doctor today. When babies present with complex medical problems, parents have to make a decision. We try to help them. We help their doctors and we talk with families, sometimes with their ministers or priests, and help them think through the implications of treatment or non-treatment. Children's Mercy is just the second children's hospital in the country to start a pediatric bioethics program. The goal of this program is to work with clinicians, work with families, and really push the field forward and become a model for other children's hospitals that deal with these complicated issues.