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How Do Minors Make Informed Decisions Affecting Adolescents?

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When cancer treatment becomes no longer curative judgements and decisions need to be made on how to proceed with care. Clinicians balance the principles autonomy, beneficence and nonmaleficence in designing a care plan and patients, as autonomous beings, can make informed decisions based on information presented. But what happens when that patient is a minor (a person under the age of eighteen) who no longer wishes to continue with treatment? At what age does an adolescent demonstrate the cognitive ability and emotional maturity to fully understand the consequences of choosing or refusing medical treatment (Hickey, 2017)? A minor’s right to choose or refuse medical treatment is a growing conflict that has created many ethical dilemmas and …show more content…

A basic principle of bioethics is that individuals have an absolute right to participate in the decision-making process concerning his/her own medical treatment so long as they are deemed competent (Parsapoor, 2013). Adolescents who have the ability to demonstrate an understanding of the proposed therapy along with the short and long-term consequences, benefits, and alternatives have the right to choose or refuse treatment. The mature minor doctrine outlines that adolescents 15 years or older possess the capacity to make informed decisions comparable to that of adult and therefore possess the maturity to make independent decisions regarding their medical care based on studies of adolescent cognitive development (Steinberg, 2013). As a result, if an adolescent is found to be competent they should be allowed consideration to make medical decisions based on their values and life plans (Beauchamp and Childress). Emily as a mature adolescent and developing autonomy has the right and capacity to refuse medical treatment in effort to preserve the remaining life she has left and to live out her time with dignity in a way she sees fit. Parental Authority Adolescents by law are still considered minors, defined by chronological age. Within

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