Preventing Epilepsy Deaths: Clinician Toolkit
Pediatric Examples of Empowering Conversations

When your pediatric patient needs comprehensive epilepsy services

If your patient needs information on surgical treatment options

I’d like to discuss some surgical treatments that might help manage [child’s name]’s seizures much more effectively. What are your feelings about surgery?

You want [child’s name] to have surgery.  That seems really serious and really risky.  Isn’t there something else we can try?

I know this can feel scary, but I think some of the surgical treatments might help you manage [child’s name] seizures more effectively. Although we’d hoped we could control things better with medication alone, we have not seen improvements, and we have already tried several medications, so I believe it may be time to look at some alternative options. How do you feel about speaking with an epilepsy specialist to learn more about how they may be able to help you and to address your concerns? No decisions have to be made now. This would just be a consultation.