Within case study 6, parents take their son to their pediatrician because their son, Mike, cannot sit still, concentrate, and follow directions whether it is at school or at home. The doctor tells the parents, Teresa and George, that their son is a normal hyper and energetic boy who does not have ADD or ADD-H. However, the parents believe that Ritalin will help their son, Mike, in school and at home. Yet, the doctor highly suggests not taking it due to him being healthy. The parents refuse and say they will occasionally give it to him for specific reasons. This appointment represented above is very important due to the fact that it shows that the parents are strictly going against what the doctors says just to enhance their sons concentration with medication instead of doing it the normal way by setting rules in the house and helpful ways to make him sit still. The dilemma presented in this case relates to several ethical concepts like the harm principle and non-maleficence. How it relates to the harm principle is that the parents are causing harm to their child by giving him a drug when he does not need it. It is also non-maleficence because the doctor should not be prescribing medication that …show more content…
Ritalin can cause “insomnia and an appetite change” in children who at this age should be eating enough nutrients in order to grow healthy and strong (232). In addition, Mills views Ritalin as getting away from the way children should be handled in school and at home. She states “if we choose a “quick fix” to solve our problem and achieve our goals, we may end up achieving different goals altogether, or, at least give up the long ultimately more rewarding journey to our destination”(233). Overall, the use of Ritalin in this case would not be beneficial to the child and the parents should just let the child be himself without any