A growing number of adolescents do not have a supportive and trusting relationship with an adult in a birth, foster, adoptive, or chosen family. Yet like all adolescents they need routine and sometimes specialized health care. This book is a collection of essays, case studies, and guidelines that describe the demographic, philosophical, medical, legal, and developmental framework in which these youth and health care staff confront medical decision making. The authors address questions of consent, confidentiality, access to care, and the right to refuse or demand care, emphasizing the...

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has historically been concerned with the protection of human subjects. In July 1977, the NIA sponsored a meeting to update and supplement guide lines for protecting those participating in Federal research pro jects. Although the basic guidelines had been in effect since 1966, it had been neglected to include the elderly as a vulnerable population. In November 1981, the NIA organized a conference on the ethical and legal issues related to informed consent in senile dementia cases. The present volume offers the latest and best thinking on Alzheimer's...