Bioethics Center
Support Development of Pediatric Clinical Bioethics Globally
Help the Children's Mercy Bioethics Center continue to train students in bioethics globally and work to support the development of pediatric bioethics across the globe.
As an international leader in pediatric bioethics since 2009, the Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center (CMBC) aims to strengthen ethical decision-making and advance ethics education, consultation, and scholarship at Children’s Mercy and beyond. The CMBC integrates ethics from research to the bedside and teaches others through publications, presentations, and the nation’s first certificate program in pediatric bioethics.
The landscape of pediatric healthcare continues to evolve and become increasingly complex. Providing the best care to patients and families not only requires excellent medical and surgical skills but also sound ethical judgment. Bioethical decision-making in pediatrics diverges from other medical domains because children are not autonomous decision-makers and teens are still developing autonomy and decisional capacity. Pediatric health care professionals, children, and parents may disagree about the values that inform healthcare decisions, from those about vaccines to life-sustaining technologies. Healthcare teams and families need help to identify sources of conflicts and to constructively resolve disagreement for the best care of the child. The CMBC serves to help navigate the ethical dilemmas inherent to pediatric medicine and support all the stakeholders involved in these difficult and complicated situations.
Launched in 2011, the Children’s Mercy Certificate Program in Pediatric Bioethics is the first of its kind. This international, multidisciplinary 9-month program is offered annually and designed for healthcare professionals with an interest in pediatric bioethics looking to deepen their knowledge about pediatric clinical ethics, research ethics, health law, health policy and more.
This 12-month fellowship focuses on training and education in the field of pediatric ethics and is open to professionals from multiple disciplines. Each fellow undertakes a mentored research project, engages in the Clinical Ethics Consult Service with an aim of earning the Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified (HEC-C) credential, completes the Certificate Program in Pediatric Bioethics, and actively contributes to the Children’s Mercy Ethics Committee and other unit-specific ethics forums.
The Clinical Ethics Consultation Service provides guidance and support for clinical ethical dilemmas and operates within the CMBC in collaboration with the Ethics Committee.
CMBC staff participate in a wide range of scholarly work in pediatric bioethics in addition to projects mentored through the Certificate Program and Pediatric Ethics Fellowship.
The CMBC collaborates on other education opportunities in addition to its flagship training programs, including initiatives within Children’s Mercy and with regional, national, and international partners.
Bioethics News
Sign up for our monthly Children's Mercy Bioethics Center newsletter for information on Children's Mercy faculty, programs and events. You'll receive updates on reviews of pediatric bioethics cases and current trends.
Contact information
Bioethics Center
(816) 731-7154
Division Director, Palliative Care & Bioethics
Jenni Linebarger, MD, MPH, FAAP, FAAHPM
Section Chief, Bioethics Center
Kelstan Ellis, DO, MS-CR, MBe, FAAP
Pediatric Bioethicist
Brian S. Carter, MD
Co-Director, Bioethics Certificate Program & Program Director, Pediatric Ethics Fellowship
Jeremy Garrett, PhD
Co-Director, Bioethics Certificate Program & Program Manager, Health Literacy and Nursing Bioethics
Angie Knackstedt, BSN, RN, NPD-BC
Director of Scholarship, Bioethics Certificate Program & Neonatologist; Pediatric Bioethicist)
Stephanie Kukora, MD
Program Manager, Bioethics Certificate Program
Brenda Mooney, MHA
Division Manager, Palliative Care & Bioethics
Jennifer Pearl, BS