Why A Minor Should Not Have The Right To Make Medical Decisions

I believe that minors should not have the right to make most medical decisions. The amount of factors that play into my choice, as to why minors shouldn’t have the right to make decisions, varies. Most minors do not think in their best interest, therefore the parent should have the right to make the medical decisions. The later effects of a treatment/surgery could be forgotten when a minor is making his/her own decisions, the parent would strongly consider the later effects. Parents or guardians are in more of a position to make these decisions with so much responsibility. The main questions that would be taken into consideration are: what decisions should we let a minor make? Why should those decisions be up to a minor and not any others? If a parent thinks these decisions could cost a minor his/her own life, should the mother/father make the decisions for them? Even with these questions at hand, our responsibility is to determine if we should even let
Most minors making their own decisions would be thinking in their own current interest and not the long term benefits. As A. Rae Simpson stated, “According to recent findings, the human brain does not reach full maturity until at least the mid-20s.” 1 A minor cannot be fully competent enough to make serious medical decisions. These serious decisions can range from minor vaccinations to major life or death surgeries. For example, if a minor was left in charge of a routine vaccination, due to this minor not liking needle he/she would rebuff the request. This could put the minor’s health in danger. The average minor wouldn’t be able to make decisions, thinking only in the short term and not long-term health. A minor would be faced with a lot of responsibilities and wouldn’t be able to manage the stress of the decision, therefore more health issues. Thus, having a minor make health decisions would be causing them more problems than letting the parent make the