Ethics, law and paediatric medicine

Medicine is practised within an ethical and a legal framework. Doctors must obtain the broad consent of their patients before treatment begins, and tell them of their choices and the material risks inherent in treatment. Where children are the patients, it is their parents or guardians who must give their consent, unless the situation is an emergency or the children have been removed from parental custody and care. Today, mature teenagers may consent to their own medical treatment. Doctors must protect their patients' confidential information, however acquired. There are very limited exceptions where confidential information may be revealed, and a few where revelation is mandatory. Effective communication between doctors and their patients, or their parents, is of signal importance.