I was checking my email just now on yahoo and a news story on the page said that a 13 year old boy was forced by the court to receive chemotherapy to treat his lymphoma. The boy and his parents agreed on trying alternative medicine to treat the illness due to religious purposes. Involuntary medical attentuon, if it has the realistic possibility of saving lives, is entirely legal if the patient is a minor.
Personally, I think that the practice should be disallowed if the minor in question is at a pyschological level that puts them in a place where professionals can be certain that the choice to forgo certain medical practices is the minor's own. But since that boy's lymphoma had a 90% chance of being wiped out by the chemo, I think he's a dumbass for not getting treatment. Still, it comes down to the fact that one can do whatever they want with their body, even if it means letting it die.
