Parental Discretion and Children's Rights: Background and Implications for Medical Decision-Making

Abstract

It is argued that liberal tenets that justify intervention to promote the welfare of incompetents do not suffice as a basis for analyzing parent child relationships, and that this inadequacy is the basis for many of the problems that arise when considering the state's authority to limit parents' discretion over the medical care given to their children. The parents' responsibility is fundamentally different from that of the state, and parents are legitimately permitted to compromise a child's interests for ends related to the familial relationship. As a general rule, parental decisions should be supervened only if it can be shown that no responsible mode of thinking warrants such treatment of a child. (KIE abstract)