The Health Of The Adolescent - 1602 Words

It’s no surprise that adolescents tend to withhold some of their personal information from their parents for a variety of reasons. When the health of the adolescent in concerned, on the other hand, how should the situation be handled? Teenagers are an extremely vulnerable population due to the many changes, stresses, and difficulties that they experience during their everyday life. This is the time in which adolescents value their privacy the most. The same goes for how they handle their medical situations. When they are just going in for a yearly checkup, a vaccine, or a common illness, most teenagers have no problem sharing the information with their parents to ensure that they are well taken care of. Also, teens typically rely on†¦show more content†¦Therefore, adolescents rely on and trust their doctors to treat their issues quickly and privately. â€Å"The doctor-patient relationship is the primary focus of ethics in medicine. It is both a personal and a professional relationship founded on trust, confidence, dignity, and mutual respect† (Perez-Carceles 531). Teenagers highly value their confidentiality, and in most cases, physicians will try their hardest to protect that. Adolescents should have the right to consent to confidential medical treatments and services in order for them to receive medical attention quickly and privately, to protect themselves from broken family situations, and ensure their health. One reason why teenagers should have the right to confidential medical treatments is so they can deal with their issues as effectively and timely as possible. When minors present their medical problems to their physicians, some of them can be emergencies. These situations can appear in a circumstance such as the patient waiting so long to get a doctor’s opinion of their illness or injury that they are at risk of serious consequences if it is not treated immediately. In some cases, there is no time to receive parental consent or approval, and medical procedure must happen as soon as possible. The patient is most desperate for attention in emergency situations and they should be able to consent to procedures so that they can be performed quickly. â€Å"Emergency physicians shall