Remarks of a paediatrician on informed consent in children

In medical practice, patients are frequently in a passive role with respect to consenting to medical measures. The basic threshold element of informed consent is medical competence to be controlled by individual self-criticism. The elements of information, such as disclosure and understanding, have to be adapted to the individual situation in order to achieve voluntariness and active autonomous authorization. In the paediatric age group, disclosure of information has to be guided by the age-dependent ability of understanding, leading to voluntariness and consent. Since force cannot be totally avoided in the management of children, parental information and consent should be as precise and conclusive as possible. The interaction between the paediatrician on the one hand, and the children and their parents on the other, is discussed.