,,,The Mature Minor Doctrine: Can Minors Unilaterally Refuse Medical Treatment?

Abstract

In 1960, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article describing a surprisingly simple and remarkably effective lifesaving technique.1 The technique, now known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), enabled medical professionals to “restor[e] spontaneous circulation” to patients suffering from cardiac arrest.2 Once administration of CPR became standard procedure, however, medical professionals recognized that it may not always be in a patient’s interest to attempt resuscitation.3 Rather, resuscitating a terminal patient already near death may cause the patient to endure a painful last few days of life. Recognizing this, doctors and nurses looked for a way to curb the unnecessary “suffering inflicted on many terminally ill patients by repeated resuscitation attempts that only prolonged death.”4 Hospital staffs adopted “procedures to delay or deny resuscitation attempts in situations in which they believed CPR would not be beneficial.”5 Doctors designated certain patients for “less-than-full” resuscitation attempts; word of mouth or symbols on a patient’s chart