Culture, ethics, and pediatric surgery.

This report considers the impact of cultural disparities between patient and physician when the patient is a child and when the physician is a surgeon. The meaning of culture, what an ethics perspective involves, and features of pediatric surgery that are relevant to discussions about culture, ethics, and pediatric surgery are reviewed. Some of the ethical challenges that pediatric surgeons may face when they and their patients have different cultural understandings are explored. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company