The principle of autonomy is one the most used guiding
principles of medical ethics. The principle of autonomy states that an
autonomous person should be allowed to their capacity for self-determination.
Meaning that a patient has the choice to decide what is being
administered or done to their bodies. Now we all know that any consenting adult
has the right to refuse medical attention. Can we say the same for people under
the age of 18? No we can’t, parents decide for their children. Parents have the
authority to refuse medical treatment for their children, including having
right to stop treatment or refuse to give it at all. I will admit that there
are some pros and cons to refusing medical treatment. So what happens when
parents refuse treatment that their child’s doctor recommended?
If the physician believes that the parents are not acting in
their child’s best interest, the physician has the right to take them to court
and give an argument on why the state should take temporary custody of the
child. Then they will appoint a guardian who will allow the treatment to
happen. Usually cases like this involve parents with religious stipulations on
for the refusal of the treatment. For example a blood transfusion in a family
that belongs to a family of Jehovah’s Witness.
I think that the refusal of treatment for your child is very
dangerous, and not safe. Refusing treatment can result in the death of child. Childhood vaccination is a great example of
something that we deal with everyday around the world. Some parents believe
that vaccinating their child ruining their body and it is causing them to get
sick. Most physicians believe it is best for the child to receive routine
childhood vaccinations to keep them from getting all types of infections and
diseases. When parents don’t vaccinate their child this puts other kids at risk
by getting whatever they have.
In many cases the situation is different. That’s why I can
never make mind up about this topic because if the case varies it makes you
rethink your stance on a touchy topic like this. But for example there was this
case with a young girl name Sarah and she is 10 and has cancer. She has
lymphoblastic lymphoma, a very aggressive form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The
news reported that Sarah and her parents decided to stop chemo treatment. “Sarah
father stated that she begged her parents to stop with the chemotherapy and they
agreed after a great deal of prayer”. Sarah said that the side effects of chemo
was making her very sick. So in this case I think they were right by refusing
treating because Sarah didn't think it was in her best interest.
I think we can all agree that it has been really hard to take a stance on most of these topics we have been looking at and be able to firmly maintain, with complete confidence, that we agree 100%. But I think we should look at every situation from all angles in order to give us more perspective in every situation. Like you said, "Refusing treatment can result in the death of child." although this may be true in some situations, we should ask ourselves if all the pain and suffering that results from most treatments, like in Sarah's case, actually cause more harm to these children than they are able to bring about positive results for them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this topic. It always irks me when parents do not vaccinate their children. It's like they are wanting their children to get deadly diseases. It's so sad that off of one rumor, that their child could develop autism, can maybe cause an epidemic. A few years back in upstate New York, meningitis started to pop up in kids around the age of 5. Most of the parents did state that their child was not vaccinated. Some children died, and some went through a lot of pain. Why make your child go through all of that, when a simple vaccine could have prevented it in the first place. Scientist would not make a vaccine if it's not backed up by a lot of research proving that it can prevent people from getting a particular disease. Also what irks me is when everyone is up for finding a cure for cancer, but people are still refusing vaccinations. It is so hypocritical. So my point is that parents shouldn't ignore certain treatments such as vaccines.
ReplyDelete