Children and the Law: Medical Treatment

MPS welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Commission’s Children and the Law: Medical Treatment consultation. MPS considers this a welcome opportunity to address the law in relation to consent to the medical treatment of minors and we endorse the aims of the Commission in seeking to ensure that mature teenagers have their views fully taken into account when they seek medical treatment and to provide clarity to healthcare professionals and families.

In that respect, we agree with the view expressed by the Commission that section 23 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 is not the appropriate legislation to uphold the rights of children in the context of healthcare and consent to medical treatment.

Our comments relate to the summary of provisional recommendations as laid out in Chapter 7, we have focused on recommendations 7.01 to 7.21 as they lie within MPS’s area of expertise.

• To read the full response document, see the PDF attachment on the right.