Poll: Should a 13 year old have the right to choose not to have a potential life saving surgery?

i can't believe they would allow her to make such a major decision like that. where are her parents, and do they even care about her and want her to live?

To ilove: you are right - she doesn't understand the beauty of life. Her life probably isn't. If she has had surgeries since age 4 she doesn't remember a normal life.

Heart surgeries are very complicated, involving lots of pain, technical care [ tubes, monitors, multiple IV lines, NO SLEEP while in CCU, etc. ] and lots of recovery time and follow-up.

If she doesn't want a heart transplant, she should be allowed to make this decision. Not all heart transplants live happily ever after.

Each case is different. From 4 to 13 she probably did a lot of growing up. If I had surgery after surgery after surgery I would be tired of it too. But at 13 I think the parents should choose.

That's an interesting question because there are a lot of people who need heart transplants to live, and not enough people on the organ donor list.

If there aren't enough organs for everyone who needs them, maybe they should go to the people who want them.

Of course, in theory, if there really were enough hearts to go around I'd say the girl had BETTER get a heart transplant or else she's committing suicide, which is illegal and immoral.

She's probably much more mature than most adults. I had 25 surgeries by age 15, and thought about it too. I've had 10 more since, plus 2 bouts of cancer and chemo, and think I'm done with that crap at age 41.

Two schools of thought here:

1. As a minor, she would need the consent of her parents/guardian to whatever medical procedure to be done, however,

2. As a patient herself, she deserves the right to refuse treatment, medication, surgery, etc.

Sadly, the consequence of her decision may give her a turn for the worse.

I'll be honest. She's making a stupid choice. Just because she's tired of surgery and doesn't like the hospital? I don't think she understands the beauty of life~

i think she has the right to choose. its definately the right thing to respect her wishes after she has been through so much. and i dont think it should be in the hands of her parents to decide such a big thing for her. only she can make that life changing decision.

yes she is old enough to make that decision