The DOI matches its Crossref record; 22 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Legal Authority of Mature Minors to Consent to General Medical Treatment
Abstract
The nature and scope of mature adolescents’ legal authority to consent to general medical treatment without parental involvement is often misrepresented by commentators. This state of affairs is further complicated by the law itself, which has developed a broad “mature minor exception” to the general requirement of parental consent in abortion cases and which has additionally carved out numerous specific status-based and condition-based exceptions to that requirement. In these circumstances, it is not always a simple matter for physicians and other medical professionals who treat adolescents to ascertain the applicable law. In this article, we discuss the underlying differences between medical ethics and law, which have caused some of the confusion in this area, and we set out the most current legal rules governing adolescent decision-making authority in general medical settings. A comprehensive analysis of both statutory and common law demonstrates that in such settings, parental consent continues to be required by most jurisdictions, even when the minor can be considered cognitively “mature.”
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“Cognitive development and medical decision-making skills will impact a wide variety of risk-taking behaviors and acceptance of self-management behaviors into daily life (98,99).”
From Psychosocial care for people with diabetes: a position statement of the American Diabetes Association (2016) · cites this paper as [99]
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3 of the 25 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Coleman, D. L., & Rosoff, P. M.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Duke Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Coleman, Doriane Lambelet
- Venue
- Pediatrics
- Publisher
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- Published
- 2013-04-01
- Volume
- 131
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 786-793
- ISSN
- 0031-4005 (ISSN-L)
- 1098-4275
- OpenAlex
- W1964810029
- Cited by
- 148
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- PEDIATRICS (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Law › Medical and Health Sciences Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Adolescent and Pediatric Healthcare
- Keywords
- mature minors, adolescent consent, parental consent, medical ethics and law, statutory law, common law, adolescent autonomy
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Humans, Legislation, Medical, State Government, United States, Government Regulation, Parental Consent, Federal Government, Informed Consent By Minors
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