Skeleton Keys to Hospital Doors: Adolescent Adults who Refuse Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment

Abstract

We consider how the sufficiency of young adults’ autonomy is judged in light of biological, social and psychological evidence that adolescence can continue into the mid 20s. Until then, adolescent adults are prone to developmental immaturity which can affect risk taking, impulsivity, and independence in decision making. Some areas of law are starting to accommodate the impacts of adolescence into adulthood, and this article considers how they do so and whether and if so how the law relating to medical treatment refusals in England and Wales might similarly adapt. We argue that the right to full decision-making about medical treatment refusals at 18 based on the adult status of the individual should accommodate greater sensitivity to individual developmental attributes and set out three ways in which that might be achieved.