Critical Thinking by Dr Paul Healy and Dr Michael Dix - Article Example

1. Introduction The article evaluated is ‘Critical thinking’ by Dr. Paul Healy and Dr Michael Dix. The article appeared in the journal ‘The adolescent health’ publication and tries to describe a number of plastic surgery issues in the US such as liposuction, breast enlargement and tummy size reduction. This is because these surgeries have been associated with improved body shapes. The problem or issue that this article deals with is whether teenagers and adolescents should be allowed to make decisions that may be against their interests. It provides an analysis of the argument by providing sub arguments which are used to either support or oppose the claim. It also provides an evaluation of the arguments by use of critical thinking techniques to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the argument and an assessment of the premises by use of acceptability and unacceptability condits. The general evaluation shows that children should only be allowed to make decisions that may be harmful to them after responsible people in charge of them conducts an evaluation of the premises under which the decisions are made. It shows that when the premises are not reasonable, they should not be allowed to make the decisions regarding medical operations that should be performed on them.. 2. Analysis The argument that this paper tries to evaluate is whether children and adolescents should be allowed to make decisions regarding medical operations that may be against their best interests. Teenagers and adolescents have been observed to be interested in being independent in their decision making processes in matter that affect their lives such as the cases of surgeries that affect their bodies, while parents have insisted that certain decisions regarding the teenagers should be made by them. There are many arguments that have been made to either support or oppose the statement that teenagers should be allowed to make decisions that may be against their interest in the context of medical attentions they receive. An example is that most teenagers and adolescents of sound minds have certain interests that they need to achieve from the decisions they make, thus they should be allowed to make decisions without the intervention of their parents. For instance, it has been argued that when a girl wants to undergo an operation for weight reduction, they should be allowed to do so because they are comfortable and interested in having smaller body sizes. Another argument that has been proposed in support of the claim is that they should be allowed to make their own decisions regarding medications they need so that they can see the implications of the decisions they have made and avoid any mistakes in the subsequent decisions they are likely to make. Another reason that has been given to support the argument that teenagers and adolescents should be allowed to make decisions regarding their medical procedures is that teenagers need privacy at a certain age and this can only be achieved by allowing them to make their own decisions. For example, a teenager that requires a medical operation such as medical procedures such as liposuction and tummy tucks are aimed at achieving certain body shapes that teenagers and adolescents prefer. Thus, the intervention of their parents into a manner in which they should look cannot be accepted because they are adults who can make decisions on their own. However, there are arguments that have been made to oppose the idea that teenagers and adolescents should not be allowed to make their own decisions in matters that relating to medications they receive from health institutions. This is because parents are considered to be the most responsible people who have the experience of the positive and negative implications of medical decisions made and can provide the best advice on the decision made by their children in teenage and adolescent. Another argument that has been put to oppose the idea is that the role of doctors is to maximize the benefits to young patients and minimizing harms. In addition, there are certain behaviors that when parents observe in their children, they conclude that the children are set on the wrong path and have to intervene in the situation. For example, parents may anticipate that their children are set on heart ache, regrets and other bad impacts when they make certain medical decisions. However, the parents should be allowed to determine certain actions that the child should perform to ensure these negative impacts do not result. 3. Evaluation An example of argument that supports the statement that teenagers and young patients should be allowed to make decisions regarding their medication is that the role of doctors is to provide medical assistance professionally irrespective of the harm likely to result from the decisions of patients. However, they might not compel young patients to avoid the decisions they have made because they are discharging their professional duties. For example when a child tells a doctor that she wants a medication that results into enlargement of her breast, the doctor might inform her that there are side effects associated with the medication but if the patient may insist that it is her decision to have the surgery, the doctor can have no choice but to provide the medication. Thus, the premise that the patient needs to have the operation performed on her irrespective of the side effects because it is her own decision does not make sense. However, when the youth informs the parent that she wants to have the surgery, and the parent asks why she wants to have the surgery, the adolescent or teenager might give a reason that will either make sense to the parent or does not make sense. If the reason given by the youth makes sense to the parent, the parent can allow the child to have the surgery done on her. However, if the child gives a reason that does not make sense, the parent may force the child not to have the surgery done on her. In addition, if the side effects associated with the surgery are severe than the benefits, the parent should decline to allow the child to have the surgery done on her. Thus, parents are the only people who know where their children can be harmed by the decisions they make. This shows that the weakness of the argument that teenagers and young patients should be allowed to make their own decisions in matters pertaining to their health is that it ignores the side effects that may not be recognized by the youths when they decide to have the medical decisions they make. There are other steps that have been suggested during evaluation of the argument whether teenagers and youths should be allowed to make their own medical decisions. This involves understanding the history of the child in making decisions as he or she grows. It also involves using the historical behaviors to assess the ability of the child to handle the current challenges he is likely to face is he makes the decision. If the assessment shows that the child has the ability to handle the consequences of her or his decisions effectively, then the parents can allow them to make the decisions they want to make. If the child makes decisions that are harmful to her, it is recommended that most decisions regarding medical operations on the child should not be allowed. This is because the child may not be able to manage the consequences of the situation. On the other hand, if the child has a history if effectively managing her activities, the decision to have the operation in various parts of the body should be allowed. 4. Conclusion This paper shows that in order to develop a responsible generations for the future, there is the need for parents to at least give directions to their children in certain matters while enabling them make decisions on their own in certain matters. This is because there are certain circumstances that warrant independent decision making among the teenagers and the youth. In the medical decisions regarding the health of teenagers and young adults, parents need to study the behaviors of children during their growth to determine whether the child, should be allowed to make independent decisions. However it does not suggest that children should exclusively be given the freedom to make their own decision nor make parents the sole decision makers for the actions that teenagers and youths. It suggests that there is the need to analyze the state of responsibility of teenagers with regards to the decisions they make. When the teenager is responsible enough to take care of the situation he is undergoing, the parents should not hesitate to allow them make their own decisions. However, if there is evidence that the child cannot manage the decision he or she makes such as decisions relating to the medical actions she needs to take, parents can determine whether they should make the decisions or not. This will ensure children and youths are not harmed in either ways and equipped with safety methods of decision making that do not affect them negatively and resulting into regrets among them and their parents. 5. References Charles E. Irwin, Jr., M.D. 2010. Research and Policy Center for Childhood & Adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health.P 215-220. Andrea Boccelli, Publisher. Read More