Consent in British Legal System

Consent in British Legal System

Compare and contrast the legal requirements for consent to treatment with minors (children) and adults in England and Wales.

An individual’s ethical right to autonomy in determining their own medical care is expressed through law by consent; allowing individuals to maintain their autonomy is a legal necessity, and as such, any competent adult is required to provide consent in order to be treated by medical professionals. In practice, however, healthcare professionals treat a variety of patients and meet difficulties in the practical application of applying legal requirements for consent to treatment in patients who cannot consent for themselves. This essay seeks to compare and contrast the legal prerequisites for consent surrounding those lacking capacity to consent with that of capable adults especially in light of the recent Mental Capacity Act 2005. Looking firstly at the importance of obtaining consent, this essay will then go on to look at the law of consent pertaining to minors or children, and what happens when patients cannot give consent. Throughout the essay, reference and comparisons will be drawn with the differences and similarities between that the consent laws surrounding competent adults and that of incompetent adults and minors. This essay has insufficient confines to discuss certain aspects of consent specifically that of cases of emergencies where a competent adult has lost capacity, nor at the cases of pregnant women, instead concentrating on the consent requirements surrounding that of both incompetent and competent adults, and that of minors.
Any healthcare professional who examines or treats a patient without first gaining their consent no matter what the good intensions of the doctor are, is prima facie unlawful and the doctor is then committing a tort (trespass to the patient) and a crime of battery where the doctor has unlawfully touched the patient. Consent not only preserves the patients’ right to receive treatment but also...

Similar Essays