Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary outcome was physician attitude regarding pediatric
decision-making authority as influenced by patient age and maturity
level. The hypothesis formulated prior to data collection was that the
majority of physicians believed parents held decision-making authority
surrounding transplantation, but that this would be inversely related to
patient age and maturity. Secondary outcomes included physician views on
attempting reconciliation of parent-child conflicts of opinions
regarding the pursuit of lung transplantation, provider initiative to
determine the opinion of the pediatric patient, and views towards
utilizing ethics and psychiatry consultation services to reconcile
conflicting opinions.