Dexter Johnson

Young Persons V. Paternalistic Medical Judges: a Phase Difference: the Conflict in Medical Law Between Competent Young Persons and Judges Dexter Johnson

YOUNG PERSONS V. PATERNALISTIC MEDICAL JUDGES. Dr. Dexter Reno Johnson, Professor of Law, Commonwealth Scholar and Medicolegal consultant questions the reluctance of the law to accept the new young person. Why is the court reluctant to confer competence on young persons in critical medical decision making? Today''s young person must be considered more advanced than those of yesteryear. Can Judges design appropriate assessment in law of the competence of a Young person to make a tough medical decision? In this work, Dr. Johnson argues that overly paternalistic judges are applying anachronistic law, out of step with current concepts of today''s young person. This book discusses the way forward as regards medical decision making for young persons in this twenty-first century.