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17 Gov't L. Rev. 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/aglr17 and id is 1 raw text is: ADOLESCENT DECISION-MAKING IN HEALTH CARE: IS IT TIME FOR NEW YORK STATE TO ADOPT A MATURE MINOR STATUTE? Sarah C. Reckess, J.D.* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................... 1 II. HISTORY OF MATURE MINOR CASES AND STATUTES IN THE U NITED STATES..................................................3 III. PEDIATRIC STANDARD OF CARE ................................... 6 IV. NEW YORK CASE LAW CONSIDERING MATURE MINORS 13 V . W HY NOW ? ............................................................... 15 VI. HOW THE FAMILY HEALTH CARE DECISIONS ACT CAN H E LP ...................................................................... . . 20 V II. C O N CLU SIO N .................................................................22 I. INTRODUCTION The judge looked down from the bench as I read the stipulation on the record. It was my first custody hearing, and this negotiation between warring parents had been truly laborious. The judge interrupted me to ask if we had consulted the sixteen-year-old child, who would be subject to the alternating holiday schedule and fifty-fifty custody arrangements. The judge explained that he didn't like to issue orders that the parents would try to enforce and the child would refuse. Have you ever tried to make a sixteen- year-old do something they don't want to do? he asked. Although parents, the state, and the courts may try to compel adolescents to acquiesce to our decisions, many of us acknowledge * Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Humanities, State University of New York Upstate Medical University. 1