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Originally Posted by deepimpact2
I disagree. A thirteen year old child is capable of udnerstanding what may appen if they don't take chemo. Children these days are far more precocious and have a better uderstanding than people might realize.
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This may be true on the whole (or it might be a "get off my lawn" moment in reverse, it's hard to say), but this kid specifically isn't exactly a rocket scientist in waiting.
I'm HUGE on keeping the state out of basically every part of life that it isn't needed, but there is a fundamental duty to protect children against the unreasonable or ill-informed actions of their caretakers. We wouldn't leave a 13 year old child with a mother who beat him or didn't feed him - why? Because he might die.
It's essentially the same as statutory rape laws, etc. - the kid feels old enough to make the decision, and some probably are, but on the whole the state really has a duty to keep CrazyMom from imparting her Crazy onto her child's gravestone.