Decision/Outcome of Gillick The application for a declaration was dismissed. Parental rights, as such, did not exist, except insofar as necessary to safeguard the best interests of a minor.
KIE: England's Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled that parents had the right to prevent a physician at the local health authority from prescribing contraceptives to girls under the age of 16 without parental consent.
The House of Lords' decision of Gillick was delivered in 1985. The Court held that children who are under 16 years, but have the intelligence and understanding to be competent to give consent to a particular treatment, may give consent for themselves.
Fraser Competent is a term used to describe a child under 16 who is considered to be of sufficient age and understanding to be competent to receive contraceptive advice without parental knowledge or consent.
Assessment of Gillick competence requires an examination of how the child deals with the process of making a decision based on an analysis of the child's ability to understand and assess risks.
Gillick competence is a term originating in England and Wales and is used in medical law to decide whether a child (a person under 16 years of age) is able to consent to their own medical treatment, without the need for parental permission or knowledge.
The Gillick case holds that a child's capacity increases as they approach maturity or in other words, the authority of a parent decreases as their child's capacity increases. The significance of the proposed treatment will be a relevant factor in assessing whether a Minor has capacity to consent.
Gillick competence is concerned with determining a child's capacity to consent. Fraser guidelines, on the other hand, are used specifically to decide if a child can consent to contraceptive or sexual health advice and treatment.
Using the Fraser guidelines
the young person's physical or mental health or both are likely to suffer unless they receive the advice or treatment. it is in the young person's best interests to receive the advice, treatment or both without their parents' or carers' consent.
How is competency assessed? For a child to be Gillick competent, he or she must have “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed”. It's assessed on a case by case basis, depending on the type of medical treatment proposed.
The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that 'this' child knew that 'this' offence was seriously wrong and not just naughty. Secondly, the presumption of normality misstates the law.
If you're 16 or over, it's generally assumed that you have the capacity to consent to medical treatment, but if you're under 16 years of age, you will have to prove that you have capacity to consent to the treatment.
The legal test used to determine if a child is capable of giving consent is when he or she “achieves a sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed”. This is referred to as 'Gillick competent' or a 'mature minor'.
Children under the age of 16 can consent to their own treatment if they're believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what's involved in their treatment. This is known as being Gillick competent. Otherwise, someone with parental responsibility can consent for them.
Summary: The ruling of this case set it in law that a child under 16, if competent - Gillick Competent - to make a healthcare decision can consent to do so.
Contraception services are free and confidential, including for people under the age of 16. If you're under 16 and want contraception, the doctor, nurse or pharmacist won't tell your parents or carer, as long as they believe you fully understand the information you're given and the decisions you're making.
This law and the resulting guidelines apply to the British situation, only. They have no legal validity in Ireland. Subsequently, guidance has been issued for UK doctors on judging the Gillick competence of a child (The Fraser guidelines - detailed in the Appendix).
In Singapore, the age a person is legally considered an adult is 21. However, Singapore has no statute law that defines the legal age to give consent for medical procedures. Wherever feasible and reasonable, parents or guardians of minors should be directly involved in giving consent.
For a child to be 'Gillick competent' he or she must have “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed” . This must be assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of the treatment proposed .
In order to do so, the child or young person must have a 'sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to fully understand what is proposed'. This is often referred to as 'Gillick competence' or the 'mature minor'.
It is important to note that for the purposes of the Regulations, a patient who is unmarried and below 18 years of age does not have the capacity to give valid consent to any medical procedure or surgery.
Confidentiality. If a child is a mature minor they are entitled to the same confidentiality about their health information as an adult patient. This means a parent or guardian does not have a right to know this information.
The key passages from the Montgomery judgment involve what a patient would consider to be material risk: "The doctor is therefore under a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in any recommended treatment, and of any reasonable alternative or variant treatments.
The lowest age of consent is in Nigeria (11) followed by the Philippines and Angola (12). The age of consent is 13 in three countries – Niger, Comoros and Burkina Faso.