The ethics of transferring adult patients to paediatric services

Oliver discusses some ethical issues that arise from changing pathways of care to manage demand.1 We present another altered treatment paradigm from the first wave of covid-19 that required novel ethical decision making. Similar to Massachusetts General Hospital for Children,2 Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust accommodated adults in its paediatric intensive care unit. Fortunately, few local children with covid-19 were admitted to hospital, so the trust offered to relieve pressure on adult services. Anticipating …