Thanks to Adrian, Ahmad and Graham for their responses.
The question of what other doctors would do was the specific one mother asked.
The legal niceties are also interesting maybe.
Ahmad said that not withstanding Gillick etc. there is a legal requirement for
the mother's consent.
My own feeling was that whatever doctors in general do my colleague was on
pretty safe ground legally. The mother's implied consent was clear if it was
needed.
However in considering consent issues I sometimes find it helpful to think
about who has the capacity to refuse treatment. If the girl had refused I
would have thought that the Children's act makes it clear he could not have
gone ahead.
If the mother refuses but the girl understands the issues and wishes to go
ahead I think that he would probably have been OK to proceed.
I've had a couple of mailings from individual colleagues along these lines but
as it does seem a difficult area any alternative views would be welcome.
We're hoping to do a session on consent issues in our 5 day refresher course -
probably focus more on the elderly than the young, but are there any other
example cases anyone thinks might be useful?
Julian
Dr. J. Bradley, The Stonedean Practice,
Stony Stratford Health Centre, Milton Keynes MK11 1YA
Telephone 01908 261155, Fax 01908 265818
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