Teen with incurable disease waging right to die battle

[0:00]Right now a Wisconsin teenager says that she has made the decision to end her life. But does a child have the capacity to make that kind of decision? It's a controversy that's unfolding right now in that state. Our senior correspondent Mike Tobin is live for us in Appleton, Wisconsin, with both sides of the debate from disability activists and also this girl's family. Mike, and Heather, you cut right to the heart of it. It ultimately asked the question, is a 14-year-old capable of making this life and death decision if it involves her own life? Jerica Bowen has an incurable disease, spinal muscular atrophy type 2. She has endured more than 30 surgeries at her young age. She uses a breathing device 12 hours a day. Jerica says she's often in great pain. Now, earlier this summer, Jerica, with her mother's support, made a decision to go off her breathing device and go into hospice, which would ultimately end her life. Friends threw a prom for her. They dubbed it Jerica's last dance. She said the gesture made her heart explode, made her feel like a princess. But now a disability rights group has asked child protection authorities to intervene and says a 14-year-old does not have the capability for a decision like that. If any other child, any other 14-year-old said, I'm I I'm unhappy with my life. I don't think my life has value. I think I should die. We would not be applauding and cheering that decision, which is what's happening here. Now, Wisconsin law considers a 14-year-old to be incompetent. It is significant that her mother supports her decision. However, it appears that she needs to be in worse shape for it to be relevant. If you look at a 2014 decision in the case of disability rights versus the University University of Wisconsin Health System, it says, in the absence of a persistent vegetative state, the right of a parent to withhold treatment from a child does not exist. Right now, in the absence of any litigation, it's a moral question with legal implications. Because if mom or someone else acts, uh, there could still be potentially legal consequences to those choices. And the executive director of the disabled parents rights organization says she has many quality years ahead of her with proper treatment. Heather. Mike Toben, we're gonna have to leave it there. Mike, thanks so much.