Health Care Decisionmaking by Children Is It in Their Best Interest?

There are good moral and practical reasons for exercising caution in these health care situations, especially when the child and parents disagree, and third-party intrusion, by physicians or the state, should be resisted unless negligent and abusive decisions are in the making.

Abstract

The argument for children's rights in health care has been long in the making. The success of this position is reflected in the 1995 American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for the role of children in health care decisionmaking, which suggest that children be given greater voice as they mature. But there are good moral and practical reasons for exercising caution in these health care situations, especially when the child and parents disagree. Parents need the moral and legal space within which to make decisions that will facilitate their child's long-term autonomy, not only her present-day autonomy. Moreover, third-party intrusion, by physicians or the state, should be resisted unless negligent and abusive decisions are in the making.