Minors Choices and Parents Choices - Essay Example

What criteria should be considered?

The criteria to be considered include; age: degree of maturity or judgment: conduct and demeanor of the minor at the time of the incident involved: education and training for instance whether the minor is a high school graduate: life experiences such as whether the minor is emancipated, married, pregnant, a parent, or living apart from the parents (Donna, 2011).

 When do a minor’s choices take precedence over the parents’ choices?

 Can state law change that?

If health care professionals determine that a minor is mature, then the minor’s choices take precedence over the parent’s choice (Dickens & Cook, 2005). However, the state laws can change that if the minor’s choices go against the state’s interest.

 For what reasons do states sometimes get involved in minors’ medical care?

            States sometimes get involved in minors’ medical care to protect the states’ interest in preserving human life, preventing suicides, protecting third parties, and maintaining the ethical integrity of the medical profession, the strongest of which is the preservation of human life.

 Why is it essential for medical care providers to determine and document a minor’s maturity?

Medical care providers should obtain and document informed consent from all appropriate, authorized legal representatives, including the parents and the mature minor, and any authorized person because of the legitimate public concerns that underlie the evolving controversy over the right to refuse medical care (Vukadinowich, 2004). To be valid, any consent must be given by a person with the requisite legal capacity. Thus, a physician who proceeds with a treatment in conformity with a mature minor’s request and a signed agreement still might be proceeding without legal consent because the minor might lack capacity due to age. On the other hand, if a physician proceeds at the parent’s request in conformity with the best interest of a mature minor, the physician might be proceeding without consent because the minor may have legal capacity due to maturity.

According to developmental theorist Jean Piaget, when do most minors begin to employ mature thinking processes?

Most minors began to employ mature thinking processes around eleven years of age to adulthood. This occurs at the fourth stage in cognitive development- The formal Operational stage.

Children, during this stage, are able to apply mental operations to abstract concepts. The child can imagine as well as reason regarding hypothetical situations (William, 2003).

What are some criticisms of Piaget’s model in the context of medical decision-making?

Piaget greatly underestimated children’s capabilities; he ignored cultural influences; several individuals never develop the capability for formal reasoning, even as grown-ups; at times children concurrently develop abilities that are characteristic of more than one stage, and this makes the idea of stages appear less viable.