Discuss the position of a doctor when faced with a patient refusing life-saving medical treatment.

This is the problem of consent and a doctor's dilemma about saving a life in face of instructions otherwise. Students have difficulty with this problem, but it is a good question because it forces them to look at both sides and clearly understand that interference with another person's body without their consent is a battery. This problem often arises with blood transfusions and people who are Jehovah witnesses (Malette v. Shulman), but there are many other examples of situations where people choose to refuse medical treatment for religious and other reasons. Good students will point out that an adult has control over what happens to his or her body, but the same does not apply to children, who are considered too young to be capable of making such decisions. In these situations, if the court is not satisfied that an adult parent or guardian is acting in a child's best interests, the court can order the appropriate medical treatment.