Authorization For Emergency Medical Treatment- Minors: Fill & Download for Free

I will go even further . Not to alarm you, but while menstration (periods) in the first year after you start them can be erractic, after that they should be rather regular. The number one reason for missing periods is pregnancy. Yes, it has been longer than that, but you could have missed four months, then who knows. It would help to have more info. Are you sexually active? Do you use birth control? If so, what kind.You do have rights over your body and your health. You can go to any physician, and I recommend that you do. It would be confidential unless they needed to intervene in some way. However, if they felt it was expedient, they could ask one of your guardians, parents, to give consent. If they don’t, my sense is they would involve social services. If only to get permission. Of course, the best course would be for the provider to reach the parent and to have them come down. The mere fact that their daughter were that worried should go a long way.She could also ask a friend to talk to their parents confidentially. One things as adults, adults tend to know the options better than teenagers.YOU NEED HEALTHCARE. At the very least, walk right into an emergency room and tell them your story. They can’t turn you away. They know the laws. And, they should work to resolve it.Meanwhile get a pregnancy test from the drug store. If you have been sexually active with or without birth control over the past six to nine months.I wanted to add some information for you as I am very concerned about your health and well-being. The following is based on Maine state law and is directly edited by my attorney as I see this type of thing about four times per year. I will highlight important sections as not all of it will apply. Certainly, you are not talking about becoming emancipated, but attaining healthcare as a minor is a lot a like. Also, the word “incompetent” in the law is not calling you imcompetent, it is just a legal term for this statute.1) If a 16 year old were emancipated by court order would she be able to come to office appointments by herself without parental permission? Yes.2) If a 16 year old is not yet emancipated by court order, is she able to come to the appointment by herself without parental permission? Answer: No, unless: (i) she is a pregnant minor contemplating whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy, in which case she is authorized to receive information and counseling concerning public and private agencies available to provide birth control information and services, or (ii) she is a minor who may be treated as an adult on the basis that she has been living separately from her parents or legal guardian for at least 60 days and is independent of parental support.3) If the 16 year old is able to come to the appointment, is she authorized to start birth control without parental authorization? Answer: No, unless she is a minor who may be treated as an adult. In this case, only if: (i) she is emancipated by court order (which doesn’t appear to be the case), or (ii) she is a minor who may be treated as an adult on the basis that she has been living separately from her parents or legal guardian for at least 60 days and is independent of parental support.Keep in mind, that if you were to show up at my office, my staff would hopefully pick up on the fact that you were a minor. I would then note that I could not treat you without consent of a guardian (parent if that is the case). But, that does NOT mean I would say to you, “I can’t treat you. Bye.” I would then be faced with a medical situation that I would deem requires some type of intervention. Whether that means speaking with your parents or hopefully having them come to the office, I would like do that. My number one concern would be that you left and were lost to follow-up. At that point, I would feel completely responsible for your health and well-being. While a minor is considered unable to make prudent decisions for their healthcare, they are also by the same token, considered not to know when the lack of healthcare is not safe. One good thing about a solo physician is he or she will know the family. I would know your mom and how she would deal with this issue.BackgroundIn Maine, the person legally authorized to provide consent to treat a minor varies according to the minor’s legal status, the type of treatment or health care service being provided to the minor, and, in certain circumstances, the age of the minor. A minor is defined as any person less than 18 years of age.Generally, minors are presumed to be legally incompetent to provide informed consent for medical treatment or health care services. Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated, informed consent must be obtained from the minor’s parent or guardian.However, there are exceptions to the general consent rule for minors. Some minors have the same rights as adult patients to consent to medical treatment. Other minors have a limited right to consent to specific medical and mental health treatment services, depending on the type of care rendered, the circumstances in which care is provided, and, in some instances, upon the age of the minor. In all cases, the authority of the minor to consent is predicated upon the treating healthcare provider’s determination that the minor possesses decisional capacity to provide informed consent to treatment.1. Minors Who May Be Treated as Adults: The following minors are legally authorized to provide consent to all health care services:a. Minors who have been living separately from their parents or legal guardians for at least 60 days and are independent of parental support.b. Minors who are or have been legally married.c. Minors who are or who have been members of the U.S. Armed Forces.d. Minors who have been emancipated by court order.e. Minors who are residing in a correctional facility pursuant to a conviction as an adult.A treating healthcare provider should request appropriate documentation of the above circumstances (e.g. marriage license, Armed Service ID, emancipation order, etc.) prior to providing treatment to the minor.2. Minors Authorized to Provide Consent Under Certain Circumstances: A minor is authorized to consent to the following healthcare services:a. Treatment for Alcohol Abuseb. Treatment for Drug Abusec. Treatment for Emotional or Psychological Problemsd. Spiritual Treatmente. Organ Donationf. Sexual Assault Forensic Examinationg. Birth Control Information: A pregnant minor contemplating whether to continue or terminate a pregnancy is authorized to receive information and counseling concerning public and private agencies available to provide birth control information and services.h. Family Planning Services: The following minors are authorized to provide consent to receive family planning services:(i) Minors who are parents;(ii) Minors who are married;(iii) Minors who have the consent of their parent or legal guardian to receive family planning services; and(iv) Minors who, in the professional judgment of a physician, may suffer probable health hazards if family planning services are not provided.Family planning services include: ·Counseling with trained personnel regarding family planning, contraceptive procedures and the treatment of infertility;·Distribution of literature relating to family planning, contraceptive procedures and the treatment of infertility; and·Referral of patients to physicians or health agencies for consultation, examination, tests, medical treatment and prescription for the purposes of family planning, contraceptive procedures and treatment of infertility and provision of contraceptive procedures and supplies.i. Minors Who are Parents: A minor who is a parent is generally entitled to provide consent to health care services on behalf of his or her child in the absence of a guardianship, custody order, or other limitation on the minor’s parental rights, even though the minor may lack the authority to consent to the same healthcare services on behalf of his- or herself.A minor authorized to consent to a specific type of medical treatment or health care service is also authorized to refuse that same treatment or service.A minor who consents on his or her own behalf to healthcare services is responsible for the costs of such services, unless the minor’s parent or guardian has expressly agreed to assume full or partial responsibility.First, cost would not be an issue. As a minor, you would not likely be held responsible for cost, and hospitals would work with you anyway. For me, I would never turn away a patient for healthcare costs.Just like anything, things are not written in stone. If a minor shows up in an emergency room for an ear infection, they will not be treated without consent. But, if they show up with a major concussion, etc., they will receive a Cat Scan of the brain, because the physician will deem it emergent. He/She will try to get hold of your mother or father or other guardian, but they won’t wait longer than five to ten minutes.Keep in mind the following: The decision of whether or not you can give consent as a minor and be treated by a healthcare provider, is completely up to the provider. If I see an 11 yo walk in with a cold, I will not treat (although I would likely call social services to find out why an 11 yo is by himself. But, if I feel that by not treating you, your health is at risk, I can treat you, and if there is any legal recourse, it will be on me.The very fact that in your question you state 254 days and not a year reveals the level of concern you have. As a 16 yo, I am very proud of you for coming on Quora with this question. Ultimately, you are the one who has to advocate for yourself. I should say, knowing only half the story, that your mother THINKS she is doing the right thing. I would start with your FP or your pediatrician. You can always call them confidentially and see what they say. If you parents have any questions, let me know, and I will give you my phone number so I can help.Good luck. Please comment back if you need more info.

Here’s a link to a good article about the emancipation of minors. It includes links to state statutes. As others have pointed out, these laws vary by state.Emancipation of MinorsI’ve had some dealings with this, only because it comes into play occasionally on emergency calls. Minors generally may not consent to accept or refuse medical treatment, but emancipated minors have the same rights as adults to accept or refuse medical treatment.The following are notes from a seminar that I attended on medical consent issues. The seminar was specific to Connecticut and to minors. This is not legal advice (among other reasons, I’m not an attorney), but you might find these notes interesting or helpful.********************First, the age of majority varies from state to state and also by activity. In Connecticut, the age of majority is 18 years for most purposes. However, there are exceptions, see here:http://www.cga.ct.gov/2003/olrdata/kid/rpt/2003-R-0071.htmIn Connecticut, a minor - meaning a person less than 18 years old - may not give consent to medical treatment or refuse consent to medical treatment unless they are anemancipated minor.Emancipated minors, generally speaking, are minors who have met statutory or common law criteria which permit them to make decisions as an adult. However, Connecticut does not recognize common law emancipation, either for its own residents or for people from other states. A minor who is a Connecticut resident and at least 16 years of age can petition the Probate Court or the Supreme Court for Juvenile Matters to become emancipated.In Connecticut, in order for a court to grant emancipation, the minor has to prove that he or she:(a) is married, or(b) is on active military duty, or(c) willfully lives apart from their parents and is financially independent, or(d) or that it is in the best interests of all parties involved ("the figure skater clause").The court MAY grant emancipation under any of these circumstances, but it is not obligated to do so. In Connecticut, pregnancy/parenthood by itself does NOT automatically result in emancipation status. (The State of Pennsylvania passed some remarkably bad legislation saying that if a minor female has ever been pregnant, she is deemed to be emancipated. As you can imagine, this has had unintended bad consequences.)When you petition to become an emancipated minor, you are basically divorcing your parents. In Connecticut, it is easier to get divorced (from a marriage) than to get emancipated. It is a 4-6 month process during which the minor must be able to show that they can fend for themselves. A social worker will verify that they are employed, that they have housing, that they are able to prepare nutritious meals, etc.When a minor becomes emancipated in Connecticut, they will be given a piece of paper that is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" with the Connecticut State Seal. It will be issued either by Probate Court or by the State of CT Superior Court. They will have been given a stack of certificates and will typically have copies with them at all times. We [EMS] may NOT accept someone's word that they are emancipated - we must see the document.Having said all that, the mother of a child may consent/refuse care for her minor child, even if she is herself a minor who is unable to consent/refuse on her own behalf. See CGS 19a-285.The same rule does NOT apply to the father of a minor child. The father of a child may only consent/refuse care for his child if he is over 18 years old or married to the child's mother.A parent may refuse treatment for their minor child over the phone, but we must carefully document this refusal.Regardless of their age, minors in Connecticut may give consent for drug or alcohol treatment, mental health/psychiatric treatment, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, maternity care and blood donation (17 years old for blood donation) without parental knowledge or consent. However, they may not refuse treatment for these same circumstances - a refusal would have to come from a parent or guardian. Doctors must inform the authorities (but not the parents) if a child under 12 seeks treatment for a venereal disease.

Every mentally competent person has the right to refuse medical treatment, even if it results in their death. Or as a consultant once put it to me, everyone has the right to self-destruction. Well, almost everyone. There are two exceptions to this rule:Patients with a mental health disorder who pose an immediate threat to themselves or others.Minors who have not reached the level of maturity required in order to have the right to refuse treatment.If you believe that an individual requires involuntary treatment because they fall under one of these two categories and the individual in question is not a five-year-old whom you can talk into following you to the clinic, there is only really one thing you can do: call police.Police staff are trained in recognising and handling acute mental crises. Many times they can talk to the person in an authoritative but compassionate tone and persuade them to follow them to the clinic voluntarily. If this does not work, then the patient may have to be transported against their will.Within a prespecified time frame of up to 72 hours (depending on jurisdiction), a court has to decide whether there are sufficient reasons to justify involuntary commitment and treatment. It mainly does so by taking into account the results of the current psychiatric evaluation.As to which mental health disorders justify involuntary treatment, think of everything that renders a person incompetent to understand the consequences of their actions, such as advanced dementia (without an advance directive or legal representative denying wish for further treatment), an acute psychosis, a severe depressive episode with suicidality or an acute drug intoxication (in latter case it usually suffices to have the patient admitted to a non-psychiatric emergency department until the effects of the intoxication have worn off).Remember that even in the case of patients who lack the competence to understand the consequence of their actions, whatever health problems arise have to be dealt with in the least restrictive manner, which does not necessarily mean an involuntary commitment in a psychiatric clinic. Sometimes psychiatrists will recommend discharging the patient because he/she no longer is a threat to themselves or others when the acute psychotic symptoms have subsided. But even in that case, you will have acted in the person's best interests if you have alerted the authorities to a potential crisis intervention. They are trained for it, you should not put yourself and others in danger by trying to handle it yourself.If your question rather refers to mentally competent adults who refuse medical treatment, your only tools are your persuasion skills. You still need to acknowledge, though, that the person in question may have good reasons to deny medical treatment, even when these seem incomprehensible to us. This is for example the case with loved ones who suffer from a chronic disease and reach a point where they lack the strength to fight anymore. Everyone should have the right to give up. Even if that hurts us, the time comes when we ourselves have to let go.