PHL281H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Chemotherapy, Bioethics, Civil Liberties
Document Summary
Lecture 1: overview of the course // case: cassandra c. Diagnosed via biopsy with hodgkins lymphoma just before her 17th birthday. Fatal if untreated, but generally treatable with chemotherapy: doctors diagnose her via biopsy, by oncologists, the disease tends to respond well to chemotherapy, the doctors wanted cassandra to start chemotherapy treatments right away. She and her mother are uncooperative with physicians, apparently skeptical of the diagnosis and wary of the treatment recommendation: they insisted on a second, and third opinion. Age of medical consent in connecticut is 18. The state was notified by the doctors about their concern in this case. The state investigates her mother for medical neglect and the department of children and families investigates, and eventually remove cass from her mother"s custody. That is, it is unfair if she is denied to make her own medical decisions simply because of her age, and should be evaluated as a mature minor.
