Ethics Issues for Young Adults Vary Depending on Setting

As a medical student at the University of Michigan, Samantha Lyons, MD, HEC-C, regularly attended both pediatric and adult ethics committee meetings. Lyons noticed that for young adults, different approaches were used based on whether the patient presented to the pediatric or adult setting. In general, pediatric care was more family-oriented, whereas adult care placed more emphasis on patients being autonomous and independent.