Law and Ethics of Consent from Children in Medicine Essay

Law and Ethics of Consent from Children in Medicine - Essay Example In law children are those under 18 years of age. When ever providing consent for medical treatment, according to the age of the child there is a variance of treatment. The Family Reform Act of 1969 provides that, †the consent to treatment of a 16 or 17 year old is to be treated like the consent of an adult†( FRA 1969). Minors in some places are deemed incompetent and are not given the right to consent. In England, one can challenge the presumption of incompetence on the basis of proving that the minor is mature enough to understand the procedures and the outcome. However, whenever the minor is considered incompetent, the informed consent is required from the parents. This has no application to a refusal of medical treatment or to non-therapeutic procedures like organ or blood donation. For those children under 16 there is precedent in case law governing consent to treatment. The law was set out in the case of Gillick v West Norfolk and Wesbech AHA [1986] AC 112, the court held, â€Å"that if a minor has sufficient intelligence and understanding to enable him/her to understand the treatment and implications of treatment then he/ she is Gillick competent and can consent to treatment†( Gillick) The Human Rights Act 1998, which came fully into force on 2 October 2000, incorporates into UK law the bulk of the substantive rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights: of particular relevance to this area Article 2, the right to life, Article 3,m the right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, and Article 8, the right to respect for private and family life† (HRA 1998)