When Are Kids Old Enough to Make Their Own Medical Decisions?

"To what extent do we treat young people as capable of making their own medical decisions?

At one end of the spectrum, it's clear that if you're 3 years old, you're not going to make any medical decisions. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're 17 years and 11 months old and you're in a state or country that recognizes 18 as the legal age of maturity, then you're going to have a large amount of input into major medical decisions — maybe even some decisions where your parents or loved ones are not going to really be consulted if you say you need to make decisions about reproduction or sexual behavior, or whether you want to get vaccinated...."