ARE CHILDREN COMPETENT TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR OWN DEATHS

Attorneys, philosophers, bioethicists and health care professionals ha ve vigorously debated how much state control there should be over an i ndividual's or family's decision to discontinue life-sustaining treatm ent. Where treatment of a minor is involved, the debate becomes even m ore complex. The purposes of this study were to identify cases involvi ng the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in children, to describ e the legal response to, and the management of, these cases, to examin e variables that influence decision making, and to determine what lega l-ethical standards are used and how they are applied. In addition, th e author reviewed the literature on children's understanding of death and competence to participate in treatment decision making and applied those findings to argue for greater involvement of children in decisi on making related to the use of life-sustaining treatment.