You are sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office when you hear a mother yelling at the doctor that she’s not allowing her 8 month old to have a flu vaccine. The doctor clearly looks distressed, and you think to yourself, “How can a mother refuse a vaccine that could prevent her child from getting sick?”
Well, unfortunately, parents have the right to refuse treatment of any kind for their child if they are under 18, which, if it could save their life, I feel like that is child endangerment. When I see parents refusing life saving treatment for their child and then the child dies, I feel as though the parent needs to be punished. I’d be that doctor that gives it to them anyway, because if I can save their life, that’s what I am going to do.
For parents who think vaccines cause autism, well, that is ridiculous. I think that vaccines should be required for children under 18, like I’d even say that the child or children should be temporarily taken away to give them those vaccines, just so their parents know there are risks in not giving them required vaccines. Luckily, schools require students to take them, because if a child got another child sick because their parent didn’t vaccinate, then that parent should be able to sue because their child got sick.
If a child needs a life saving surgery and the parents refuse to let them, and that child dies, that parent should at least get some consequences. I can understand if the surgery has risks and they could die, but they could die without the surgery . So, isn’t it better to risk it, in my opinion, it is. Also, I think that consent for things like surgery should be allowed at around age 15 or 16 because they are old enough, but either way, if it can save their life, the doctor should do whatever they can despite what the parent wants because some parents are the reason the child needs surgery, like abuse, and that is when their rights as a parent should be taken away.
Doctors should be able to do whatever they can to save lives, especially those of children.
