Give Us Medical Autonomy or Give Us Death…
As teenagers we cannot wait to grow up, to be able to make all those “adult” choices and finally be able to do what you want. My generation and future generations are becoming more and more eager to “grow up” and have autonomy that it might actually have us miss out on key lessons of growing up; but one area that that we are not be able to grow into is the medical world. An article from The Health Affairs shows that medical issues are increasing more and more everyday, particularly correlated with obesity. (Strum et al., 2004) So being able to function efficiently and effectively in the medical world is sadly going to be a more needed skill. So what does this mean for us? Some might think that taking …show more content…
Most adolescents are capable individuals. This means that for the most part, unless unable to act for their greater good, teenagers age 13-18 are generally qualified, capable, and able to act for themselves because they have no prior conditions that would inhibit them. The difference that this would make for the rest of us is that it would be a huge change for people, including parents and doctors. The way that it would change for parents is that it would be making them more responsible to inform their child of the pros and cons of the choices, instead of just acting on their behalf. It would change more for the doctors because they are going to have to simplify the plan to help the adolescent be informed, to make an informed choice. It will also change the adolescent because they will have more responsibility and more life experience at a younger age; which I think is really important for our society. Maximizing autonomy for adolescents would have so many benefits by increasing the adolescents skills, but for this research we will only look at the benefit on the individual. These skills would be maximizing autonomy would increase individualism, learning how to balance opinions and gain …show more content…
An article from Planned Parenthood has the laws for every state relating to abortions. Currently there are fourteen states that require no parental consent or knowledge of the abortion, twenty one states require that you have permission from one parent, grandparent, guardian, or an older sibling of at least 21 years of age, three states require permission from both parents, twelve states require that you tell one parent, grandparent, guardian, or an older sibling of at least 21 years of age, 48 hours before you get an abortion and in any of these states a judge or sometimes a doctor can excuse you of this requirement. (Judicial Bypass, 2016) If adolescents getting an abortion without parents knowing about them is our one fear for granting them medical autonomy it shouldn 't even be a fear because that is basically what is going on already. Why are we not going to grant autonomy for these responsible teens for something that is already happening? Oh, then they talk about birth control. “21 states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow all minors to consent to contraceptive services. 25 states explicitly permit minors to consent to contraceptive services in one or more circumstances. 3 states allow minors to consent to contraceptive services if a physician determines that the minor would face a health hazard if she is
As teenagers we cannot wait to grow up, to be able to make all those “adult” choices and finally be able to do what you want. My generation and future generations are becoming more and more eager to “grow up” and have autonomy that it might actually have us miss out on key lessons of growing up; but one area that that we are not be able to grow into is the medical world. An article from The Health Affairs shows that medical issues are increasing more and more everyday, particularly correlated with obesity. (Strum et al., 2004) So being able to function efficiently and effectively in the medical world is sadly going to be a more needed skill. So what does this mean for us? Some might think that taking …show more content…
Most adolescents are capable individuals. This means that for the most part, unless unable to act for their greater good, teenagers age 13-18 are generally qualified, capable, and able to act for themselves because they have no prior conditions that would inhibit them. The difference that this would make for the rest of us is that it would be a huge change for people, including parents and doctors. The way that it would change for parents is that it would be making them more responsible to inform their child of the pros and cons of the choices, instead of just acting on their behalf. It would change more for the doctors because they are going to have to simplify the plan to help the adolescent be informed, to make an informed choice. It will also change the adolescent because they will have more responsibility and more life experience at a younger age; which I think is really important for our society. Maximizing autonomy for adolescents would have so many benefits by increasing the adolescents skills, but for this research we will only look at the benefit on the individual. These skills would be maximizing autonomy would increase individualism, learning how to balance opinions and gain …show more content…
An article from Planned Parenthood has the laws for every state relating to abortions. Currently there are fourteen states that require no parental consent or knowledge of the abortion, twenty one states require that you have permission from one parent, grandparent, guardian, or an older sibling of at least 21 years of age, three states require permission from both parents, twelve states require that you tell one parent, grandparent, guardian, or an older sibling of at least 21 years of age, 48 hours before you get an abortion and in any of these states a judge or sometimes a doctor can excuse you of this requirement. (Judicial Bypass, 2016) If adolescents getting an abortion without parents knowing about them is our one fear for granting them medical autonomy it shouldn 't even be a fear because that is basically what is going on already. Why are we not going to grant autonomy for these responsible teens for something that is already happening? Oh, then they talk about birth control. “21 states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow all minors to consent to contraceptive services. 25 states explicitly permit minors to consent to contraceptive services in one or more circumstances. 3 states allow minors to consent to contraceptive services if a physician determines that the minor would face a health hazard if she is