This episode didn't happen yesterday. The patient has since recovered, attended and graduated from high school, and enrolled in college. She is as competent to make health care decisions as any other 20yo. She is glad that her parents helped her escape, because she got better care that led to her recovery at a different hospital. She was clearly not critically ill, because she arrived at that hospital in a different state in fine shape. We consider the medical judgments of trained physicians (the untrained ones, not so much...) but only until they are clearly contradicted by reality.
Properly understood, the duty of physicians is also to serve those patients who are "ignorant, suspicious and contrary". They are also humans with dignity and autonomy.
Properly understood, the duty of physicians is also to serve those patients who are "ignorant, suspicious and contrary". They are also humans with dignity and autonomy.