Minors and the Right of Assent Vs Consent in Health Care Essay

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Health Care and Minors

What are the pros and cons of having a court appointed guardian act on behalf of a minor child's healthcare interests?

The pros are that the interests of the child can be immediately and adequately served, as the case of Child C shows -- the patient was in need of blood work and the putative father and/or other parental guardian was nowhere to be found in order to give the necessary approval. The ability of the hospital to seek a court-appointed guardian is, legally speaking, what allowed the hospital to save the child's life. In such instances, when the parent or guardian is not acting responsibly or is not able to be reached, the hospital and the court may step in to ensure that the best interest of the child is maintained at all times.

The con of this arrangement is that there may be grounds for the child's condition and some outstanding religious or culture reason for why the parent or guardian would disapprove of a blood transfusion. Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, traditionally do not approve of blood transfusions and other religious entities hold similar perspectives on interventions of health care providers (DuBose, 2002). Indeed, there are ethical duties that a hospital owes to such clients, even if the hospital does not agree with the outlook or perspective of the client and there is a danger to the patient's health (Muramoto, 2001).

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For the hospital to go ahead and act in a manner that would contradict the beliefs or principles of the patient/guardian would be to violate the principle of respect for the patient/guardian that care takers are bound to observe. Thus, by not being able to communicate directly with the guardian, the water is muddied and the hospital has to act in what it believes to be the best manner according to what information is available to it. For this reason, having the court-appointed guardian is helpful but in terms of culture/religious respect for the client/guardian, it may result in unwanted stress and/or potential grounds for a suit later on.

4.Should minors have the same ability to actively and directly participate in their care as an adult would? Why or why not?

Minors should have the right to actively and directly participate in their care to the extent that they can communicate with health care providers information about themselves and their experiences and they….....

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"Minors And The Right Of Assent Vs Consent In Health Care", 07 April 2016, Accessed.6 June. 2026,
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