ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 places the case law concerning children’s medical treatment within the changing context for the provision of healthcare services and its legal regulation over the past forty years. This chapter is grounded in academic analysis of the nature of medical law and the relationship between doctor and patient which has previously focused upon the adult patient. It identifies the private/public nature of the provision of medical treatment and the unique nature of parental dependency upon medical practitioners, who have legal duties to children in their care within the context of the shifting dynamics from medical paternalism to patient autonomy and consumerism identified in the adult patient/doctor relationship. It identifies the public interest in the wellbeing and welfare of children, in contrast to competent adult patients, as the justification for intervention into the ‘private’ decisions of parents as to their child’s best interests.
