Right to Refuse Treatments

When you become an adult, you will be responsible for your own care and will have the right to refuse any form of medical treatment you don’t want to have. You will also have the right to refuse being seen by a doctor or nurse you may have issues with. This means, if your doctor wants to try a new brain-transplant procedure on you, it’s your right to say no. Though I’ve never had to refuse brain transplantation—which, now that I think of it, could be a nice way of curing Sickle Cell Disease—I have had to refuse medical procedures and reject treatment from certain doctors.

I began going to a pain clinic in my mid-twenties. In the beginning, I kept butting heads with the doctor that was treating me. I’ll call her Dr. Nutzo. She insisted that I be admitted to the hospital every time I suffered a Sickle Cell pain crisis. This was a ridiculous statement that Dr. Bedros thought to be equally absurd. “If I were hospitalized every time I had a pain crisis, I would live in the hospital,” I exclaimed to her.

Upon my second visit with Dr. Nutzo, she persisted in telling me I had to be admitted to the hospital every time I suffer a pain crisis. It became very clear to me how truly ignorant she was about the nature of Sickle Cell Disease and how to best treat it. By the end of the second visit to the pain clinic I told Dr. Nutzo, “I refuse to be treated by you.” Actually, I had to tell her over and over and over again until she left the room and brought in another doctor. He was a physician whose judgment I eventually trusted and remained his patient for several years.

During one of my hospitalizations in my twenties, I was admitted with various symptoms. The doctor on duty that night was adamant that I needed a spinal tap to rule out Spinal Meningitis. I knew I sometimes showed the symptoms of this very serious illness and I refused the spinal tap at that time. I told the doctor, “If Dr. Bedros says I need a spinal tap, then I’ll do it, but not without his recommendation.”

Dr. Bedros wasn’t on call that night and it meant waiting until morning to see if he agreed with her assessment. Again I had to forcefully refuse this treatment despite the scare tactics used by this young doctor. Needless to say, I waited despite her protest. In the morning when Dr. Bedros made his rounds, he reassured me that I did not need a spinal tap. I thought it humorous that I never again saw that young doctor during my weeklong hospitalization.

I share these two events with you to illustrate how necessary it is to stand up for yourself. Learn to do what is best for you. You can’t afford to be passive about your healthcare and allow doctors, nurses, or phlebotomists (those who take your blood) do whatever they please to your body whenever they want. You aren’t a lab rat to be experimented on. Know when to exercise faith in your medical professionals and when to resist their ignorance, over-eagerness, poor judgment, or arrogance.

If you are currently a minor, you can help your parents by being open with your thoughts and feelings. Talk with your parents and tell them what you do and don’t want done in your healthcare. Together, as a family, you can decide what’s right for you.