Latest Posts

Is it ethical to sterilise an adolescent with an intellectual disability?

In a recent case in the US, a mother requested a vasectomy for her 13 year old son. He has autism and intellectual disability, and functions at the level of 4-5 year old. He had starting talking about getting married and having children, and she was concerned to make sure that he could never father a child. We will discuss this case, in the context of the wider ethical debate about sterilisation of children and young people, mostly young women, with intellectual disability. Concepts of bodily integrity, dignity and human rights meet with the practicalities of life for a young person with ID and their parents and carers.

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New blood management guidelines for neonatal and paediatric patients

The decision on whether to transfuse a neonate or child can be complex. You need to carefully consider specific patient circumstances, clinical condition, response to previous transfusion and the full range of other available treatments, balancing the evidence for efficacy and improved clinical outcome against the potential risk. There are new guidelines for blood transfusions.

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Genetics of intellectual disability and autism: past, present and future

It is now recognized that genetic factors are the major cause of intellectual disability and autism. This presentation will provide an overview of recent advances in our understanding of these genetic factors and the application of new genetic testing technologies to provide an answers for individual families.

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The early life origins of everything

The modern environment is associated with an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Mounting evidence implicates environmental exposures, experienced early in life (including in utero), in the aetiology of many NCDs, though the cellular/molecular mechanism(s) underlying this elevated risk across the life course remain unclear. The Barwon Infant Study (BIS) is a population-derived birth cohort study (n = 1,074 infants) with antenatal recruitment, designed to facilitate a detailed mechanistic investigation of development within an epidemiological framework.

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Chronic wet cough and bronchiectasis in children: a clinical spectrum

Chronic wet cough (>4 weeks) is common in children and often considered benign and self-limiting. However, there is increasing evidence to suggest that it may have greater significance, particularly if left untreated. Chronic wet cough, protracted bacterial bronchitis and bronchiectasis share many clinical and pathological features and are postulated to represent a clinical spectrum. With increased access to CT scans, non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis diagnoses are rising.

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Gene Editing is a Moral Imperative

In today’s industrialised, globalised world, we live to extreme old age. But this extended life span comes with a trade-off: our DNA is now out of sync with our environment. We can live for eight, nine, even ten decades, while the use-by date on our DNA is closer to 40-50 years. That means people spend their later years living with the diseases of ageing. If our DNA is lettering us down, why shouldn’t we alter it to suit our environment?

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Child Deaths in Victoria: Lessons learned from the Victorian Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity

The Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Morbidity and Mortality (CCOPMM) reviews every obstetric, neonatal, child and adolescent death in Victoria. This Grand Round will describe the functions and history of CCOPMM, together with a review of the epidemiology of child deaths in Victoria over the last 30 years reviewed by the committees.

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Beyond illness: are there health solutions to school problems?

Education remains one of the most powerful social determinants of adult health outcomes. Yet in 2015 one in five children started school with areas of developmental vulnerability. Paediatric health care providers play a vital role in understanding the impact of developmental variation and illness on school participation and engagement.

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