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Can children and young people consent to their own medical treatment? Consent issues involving children and young people are complex. This article examines the legal obligations of general practitioners when obtaining consent to medical treatment from patients who are less than 18 years of age.
Keywords: informed consent, adolescent; child
Case study
The patient, 15 years of age, asked her general practitioner if everything she said during the consultation would be kept 'secret'. The GP replied that she could not provide an absolute guarantee but, generally, any information provided to her by a patient would be kept confidential. The patient then told the GP that she had a boyfriend who was 16 years of age and she would like to start taking the oral contraceptive pill. She was adamant that she did not want her parents to know that she was sexually active and on the pill. The GP was uncertain of her legal position in treating a patient, 15 years of age, without the consent of her parents.
The age at which a person becomes an 'adult' in Australia is 18 years. Consent for the medical treatment of patients less than 18 years of age is generally provided by parents. However, there are circumstances in which patients under the age of 18 can consent to their own medical treatment.
The common law recognises that a child or young person may have the capacity to consent to medical treatment on their own behalf, and without their parents' knowledge. This common law position is based on a 1986 English House of Lords judgment, Gillick v Wisbech Area Health Authority.1 In this case, the issue to be determined was whether a medical practitioner could provide contraceptive advice and prescribe contraceptives to a patient under the age of 16 years, without the prior knowledge or consent of her parents. The Department of Health and Social Security had issued guidance to area health services in England that medical practitioners could prescribe the oral contraceptive pill to a girl below the age of 16 years without the consent or knowledge of her parent, if acting in good faith to protect the best interests of the patient. Mrs Gillick, who was the mother of five daughters, sought a declaration from...