Can parents really do that?

From:  "heycricket"

I was wondering, if parents of a child 17 or younger have the right to admit they're child to an elective operation...for example, forcing a nose job upon a daughter...or even something so far as to have nerves snipped to disable movement of certain body parts. (i included the last example from a 'threat' my parents once made to me..i used to bob my neck, like a twitch and it annoyed them for months, and they told me they had the right to have nerves cut, so id be paralyzed. I figured it was a joke, but who knows? sorry this is so long, btw, this website rocks, I just found it. keep up the fun work!!

Webmistress's thoughts: Ok so this is a crazy question but since she said we rock we had to post her question!

mOi gave a shot at the answer with this: 

parents do legally have the right to do anything IN THE INTERESTS OF THEIR CHILD. so now, they can't force you to get a nose job (thrash around a lot, and scream) but yeah, legally unless you charge them with like, intent to disfigure or something, they can...but who twitches their neck? you must be special.

C.H.U.D. helped out with this: 

A parent responsible for physical or emotional injury to a child is committing child abuse. A parent would get the same jail sentence for paralyzing their child if they did it through surgery or just used a hammer. But, if the surgery had some kind of legitimate medical purpose it would be legal.