The Human Rights Act 1998 and medical treatment: Time for re-examination

Archives of Disease in Childhood

Volumn 89, Issue 5, 2004, Pages 460-463

  Hagger, L E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACCURACY; CHILD WELFARE; CONFIDENTIALITY; GOOD CLINICAL PRACTICE; HEALTH CARE; HUMAN; HUMAN RIGHTS; LAW; LEARNING DISORDER; MEDICAL CARE; MEDICAL PRACTICE; PREDICTION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PUBLICATION; REVIEW; CHILD; CHILD ADVOCACY; INFORMED CONSENT; LEGAL APPROACH; LEGAL ASPECT; MENTAL CAPACITY; PROFESSIONAL PATIENT RELATIONSHIP; UNITED KINGDOM;

LEGAL APPROACH; PROFESSIONAL PATIENT RELATIONSHIP;

CHILD; CHILD ADVOCACY; CHILD WELFARE; CONFIDENTIALITY; GREAT BRITAIN; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANS; INFORMED CONSENT; LEARNING DISORDERS; MENTAL COMPETENCY;

EID: 2342477243     PISSN: 00039888     EISSN: 14682044     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1136/adc.2003.037218     Document Type: Review

References (42)

1. To be taken into account, under section 2, HRA.
2. R (on the application of Dudley and others) v. East Sussex County Council [2003] EWHC 803 Admin., 16 April 2003.
3. AK (Adult Patient) (Medical Treatment: Consent) [2001] 1 FLR 129.
4. Slowther A, Bunch C, Woolnough B, et al. Ethox (Oxford Centre for Ethics and Communication in Health Care Practice), University of Oxford, The Nuffield Trust, "Clinical ethics support in the UK: a review of the current position and likely development". Clinical Ethics Committees Supplement. Journal of Medical Ethics 2001;27(suppl 1).
5. Re C (a minor) (medical treatment [1998] 1 FLR 384.
6. [2000] 2 FLR 677.
7. Following D v. United Kingdom [1997] 24 EHRR 423.
8. Re J (Specific Issues Orders: Muslim Upbringing and Circumcision) [1999] 2 FLR 678.
9. See, for example, Re R (A Minor) (Blood Transfusion) [1993] 2 FLR 757.
10. [1999] 2 FLR 905; approach affirmed by the European Court of Human Rights, which decided a hospital's failure to involve the courts in the dispute between a mother and the doctors caring for her son constituted a breach of Article 8 ECHR: Glass V. UK, Application No. 61827/00, 10 March 2004.
11. Re MM (Medical Treatment) [2000] 1 FLR 224 where Russian parents wanted the UK doctors caring for their immunodeficient child to adopt the course of treatment advocated in their home country.
12. W v UK (1987) 10 EHRR 29 and TP & KM v United Kingdom EHHR [2001] 2 FLR 549.
13. Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1985] 3 All ER 402, HL.
14. Palmer Barnes F, Murdin L, eds. Values and ethics in the practice of psychotherapy and counselling. Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001.
15. www.nhsla.com: Human Rights Act Information Service.
16. Re T [1992] 4 All ER 649.
17. See, for example, Re R (A Minor) (Wardship: Consent to Medical Treatment) [1991] 4 All ER 177, CA.
18. Re W (A Minor) (Wardship: Consent to Medical Treatment) [1992] 4 All ER 627, CA.
19. Brazier M, Bridge C. Coercion or caring: analysing adolescent autonomy. 16 Legal Studies 84, 1996.
20. Re C (Adult: Refusal of Medical Treatment [1994] 1 All ER 819 in which Thorpe J set out the questions to be asked in determining mental competence: could the patient comprehend and retain the treatment information, did the patient believe the information, and could he weigh it in the balance to arrive at a choice? M Brazier and C Bridge.
21. Re T [1992] supra at n. 14.
22. Brazier M, Bridge C. supra n. 18 discussing J. Harris. The value of life. Routledge, 1985:195-205, 107-9.
23. For a full discussion of how other Articles might be engaged see Hagger L. Some implications of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the medical treatment of children. Medical Law International 2003;6(1):25-51.
24. Douglas and Others v. Hello! Ltd [2001] 2 All ER 289 and Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd [2002] EWCA Civ. 1373.
25. 1995 (Cm 5207(1)).
26. www.doh.gov uk/publications, December 2001.
27. See, for example, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Advocating for Children. London: RCPCH, 2000.
28. The need for such involvement for these purposes receives official recognition in The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, DfEE (2001), for example.
29. Gersch I. Resolving disagreement in special educational needs: a practical guide to conciliation and mediation. Routledge/Falmer, 2002.
30. Eiser C. Changes in understanding of illness as the child grows. Arch Dis Child 1985;60:489-492; Fielding D, Duff A. Compliance with treatment protocol: interventions for children with chronic illness. Arch Dis Child 1999;80:196-200; Alderson P, Montgomery J. What about me? Health Service Journal April 1996:22-4.
31. Eiser C. Changes in understanding of illness as the child grows. Arch Dis Child 1985;60:489-492; Fielding D, Duff A. Compliance with treatment protocol: interventions for children with chronic illness. Arch Dis Child 1999;80:196-200; Alderson P, Montgomery J. What about me? Health Service Journal April 1996:22-4.
32. Eiser C. Changes in understanding of illness as the child grows. Arch Dis Child 1985;60:489-492; Fielding D, Duff A. Compliance with treatment protocol: interventions for children with chronic illness. Arch Dis Child 1999;80:196-200; Alderson P, Montgomery J. What about me? Health Service Journal April 1996:22-4.
33. Chapman M. Constructive evolution: origins and development of Piaget's thought. Cambridge University Press, 1988 (in which he provides a more accurate assessment of Piaget's evolving theories on child development).
34. See, for example, Brook G. Children's competency to consent: a framework for practice. Paediatr Nurs 2000;12(5):31 in which she discusses how such a framework of practice was established at the Liver Unit, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Trust.
35. B v. Croydon HA [1995] 1 FCR 332.
36. DoH. Recommendation 16, The report of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry. Department of Health, 2003.
37. DoH. Working together to safeguard children: new government proposals for inter-agency co-operation consultation paper. Department of Health, 1998.
38. See comments by Butler Sloss LJ in Re G (a minor) [1996] 2 All ER 65 at 68.
39. Caldicott and Data Protection Registrar has produced a checklist for setting up information sharing arrangements reproduced at Appendix 4, Working together document (supra n. 36); see also, Draft guidance on the disclosure of information about sex offenders who may present a risk to children and vulnerable adults. Home Office, July 1999.
40. In A Health Authority v X & others [2001] 2 FCR 634 the Court of Appeal affirmed that it was lawful to disclose patients' GP records to a health authority to ensure serious allegations were properly investigated.
41. See, for example, W v. Egdell [1990] 1 All ER 835. CA.
42. General Medical Council. Confidentiality. London: GMC, 2000.