In 2003, a Utah boy named Parker Jensen was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. Since he was only 12 at the time, it was up to his parents and doctors to decide his medical treatment. While doctors recommended chemotherapy following surgery, the parents firmly said no. This disagreement escalated to an all out court war between the state of Utah, by request of the physicians, and the parents of Parker Jensen. The state determined that Parker should be taken into protective custody where he could be given the treatment that his parents were withholding from him. Angry and frustrated with the court’s decision, the Jensen family packed up and moved out of Utah. Years later, the state dropped the case after seeing Parker with no ill effects from the lack of treatment.
My personal interest in the medical rights of minors started after reading the Jody Picolt book “My Sister’s Keeper”. In this story, a family with two daughters, one sick with cancer, wants the healthy daughter to donate an organ to her sick sister. For many reasons, the healthy daughter refuses. This disagreement between daughter and parents goes so far as to become a court case. In the book, the court determines that the parents are too invested in the one daughter’s problem (cancer) and that they are not making the wisest decisions for the healthy daughter. Therefore, the court appoints a non-related person to make the healthy daughter’s medical decisions.
The main question in these cases is, where do the rights of the state overrule the rights of the parents? An underlying issue is, when does a minor have the right to make medical decisions for themselves. Whether a minor is allowed to make these decisions on their own is ultimately up to the state, but is always determined based on the minor’s maturity level. I believe that this is good compromise between minors’ rights and those of their parents or the government. It allows for a medical decision to be made/reviewed by several parties, leading to a possibly more favorable outcome.
