Conflicting Views about the Review Process for Ashley X

In 2007, a developmentally disabled 7-year old girl underwent procedures in a Seattle hospital to stop normal growth. The Ashley X case created headlines and raised a host of ethical questions. Those issues are revisited in the January 2010 issue of The American Journal of Bioethics. Here, two bioethicists, one who supported the process of review followed by the ethics committee and the other who did not, discuss why such procedures should or should not require a court order. (January 22, 2010)