Parental disagreement and medication The challenge of parental disagreement regarding medication has a number of implications for practice. When disagreements arise between parents and young people, it is important to consider the ability of the young person to make his or her own decisions regarding treatment. According to the Department of Health’s (DH, 2009: 33) Reference guide to consent for examination or treatment:
‘If the child is ‘‘Gillick’’ competent and is able to give voluntary consent after receiving appropriate information, that consent will be valid and additional consent by a person with parental responsibility will not be required.’
It is, however, good practice to involve the family in the decision-making process regarding the prescribing of medication. In situations where there is continued disagreement between the parents and the prescriber, and the child is not competent to provide consent, according to the DH (2009: 37):
‘The court should be involved to clarify whether a proposed treatment, or withholding of treatment, is in the child’s best interests. Parental refusal can only be overridden in an emergency.’
The court’s decision-making powers may be sought in relation to a child who is not Gillick competent (DH, 2009): ■ And the person with parental