What are non-therapeutic pediatric interventions?

Non-therapeutic pediatric interventions, such as harvesting a child's bone marrow, are medical interventions that are not intended to benefit medically the child upon whom they are performed. Therefore, where such interventions are proposed or undertaken, they have some other purpose. In the case opening this chapter, the purpose of harvesting J's bone marrow is to save the life of I.

The word “therapeutic” can be understood in broader and narrower ways. In the narrower sense, it excludes prophylactic interventions – namely those that are not intended to cure some condition the child currently has but to prevent an adverse medical condition later. Because prophylactic interventions are morally similar (even if not identical) to narrowly therapeutic ones, I shall group these together and thus use “therapeutic” in the broader sense that includes prophylactic measures. Non-therapeutic interventions are then those that neither cure nor prevent disease or impairment in those on whom they are performed.