RESUMO
In Italy, both parents have parental responsibility; as a general principle they have the power to give or withhold consent to medical procedures on their children, including consent for blood transfusion; however these rights are not absolute and exist only to promote the welfare of children. METHODS: The Authors discuss ethical and legal framework for Jehovah's Witness parents' refusal of blood transfusion in Italy. They searched national judgments concerning Jehovah's Witness parents' refusal of blood transfusion - and related comments - in national legal databases and national legal journals, and literature on medical literature databases. RESULTS: In the case of Jehovah's Witness parents' refusal of blood transfusion for their child, Italian Courts adopt measures that prevents the parents from exercise their parental responsibility not in the child's best interest. DISCUSSION: In the event that refusal by the parents, outside of emergency situations, exposes the child's health to serious risk, health workers must proceed by notifying the competent authority, according also to the Italian Code of Medical Ethics. CONCLUSION: When the patient is a minor, the child's best interest always come first.
RESUMO
This study originated from events that occurred in 2014 in an Italian hospital, where the embryos of a couple, obtained by means of homologous insemination, were mistakenly implanted into the uterus of another woman who, along with her husband, underwent the same treatment. Faced with this serious adverse circumstance, that gives rise to ethical and legal issues, the authors conducted a comparative examination of how to consider the division of maternity (between biological mother and uterine mother) and the related division of paternity (between genetic father and legal father, husband or partner of the gestational mother). Some preliminary observations are made concerning parenthood and filiation within the context of currently applicable Italian law. The following is a detailed analysis of the arguments in favour of the parental figures involved (gestational mother/genetic mother).
RESUMO
Non-therapeutic body modification interventions are permitted within the limits of the use of one's own body that can be specified in the legal system. The authors take into consideration Italian regulation on tattooing and piercing, in particular in relation to adolescents. RESULTS: In Italy, several regions have therefore issued acts aimed at regulating the activities of tattoo and piercing also in reference to minors. Discussion. With regard to minors, the rules taken into account set precise limits in relation to the age criterion and subordinate the implementation of such practices to the provision of consent by legal representatives. CONCLUSION: If such practices are of an aesthetic nature, we cannot avoid considering the implications they have on health protection, and then adopt appropriate measures to protect the person who intends to undergo them, particularly in the case of minors.
