Dennis Lindberg Case Study

Dennis Lindberg was a fourteen-year-old boy who died from leukemia in 2007. Dennis was a Jehovah’s Witness so like others in his faith, he rejected blood transfusions, even in life saving situations. It is trivial for courts to order transfusions in small children past the disapproval of Jehovah’s Witness parents. The justification for this is that a small is not aged enough to determine himself if he accedes with his parents. Dennis’s doctors approached the court to acquire such an order. But this was a diverse case. Dennis was not a toddler or young child. He was an informed, coherent young male who was educated in the meaning of both his medical condition and the ramifications of not procuring the transfusion. The court determined that Dennis held the right, and proper judgment, to …show more content…
But before I proceed, I would like to verify that we all have a proper understanding of what the term “adolescent” means. Merriam-Webster defines “adolescent” as “A young person who is developing into an adult; a young person who is going through adolescence. Merriam-Webster defines “adolescence” as “1. The state or process of growing up; 2. The period of life from puberty to maturity terminating legally at the age of majority; 3. A stage of development (as of a language or culture) prior to maturity.” (Merriam Webster). According to the World Health Organization’s website, “adolescents are young people from the ages 10 to 19.” (Adolescent Health). Now onto the word “autonomy”. One of the four fundamental principles of accepted medical ethics is the principle of autonomy. Autonomy means that patients govern their own bodies and make essential decisions about what type of medical care they will, or will not, receive. For children, this principle essentially means that the child’s parents will almost always determine the verdict in the