Lindsey Barnett Professor Keri Elliot LBST 2214 Sect 655 Billy Best Billy Best is a 16 year-old male

from Norwell who has been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. After 5 months of treatment he is refusing 4 more months to remove a tumor near his windpipe. After he fled to Texas to show his refusal of treatment his parents are torn with the decision to either let Billy make his own decisions or get a court order to force Billy to receive treatment. Either way its Billys body, Billys health and ultimately Billys decision. I think that Billys parents should listen psychologist about just talking to Billy about his decision. Taking Billy to court would only make him refuse treatment more, and trying to convince a judge would be harder than just talking Billy through it. Like the psychologist said, most patients are just tired of being told what to do and want control of their life, and most of them think that refusing treatment is their way of taking control of it. The best action would be to just step back and talk to them about how they are feeling. Personally speaking, every case where a patient is refusing treatment should ultimately be up to the patient if they are over the age of 16 and up to the parents along with court with patient under the age of 16. A policy I would write would include all minors under the age of 16 who refuse treatment, with a reasonable cause, need consent from a judge along with consent from their parents to still receive treatment. Minors over the age of 16 can refuse treatment, under any cause, and only consent from parents would be needed to receive treatment. Also any minor who refuses treatment is required to attend one therapy session with a

hospital psychologist before permanent discontinue of treatment. This would give full autonomy to the patient giving them the chance to state their case in court if not older than 16 and the chance to make their own decision if older than 16.