ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 reviews and analyses the development of the law concerning the medical treatment of children, exploring the law within the context of the body of work analysing the development of medical law, considered in chapter one.. For an understanding of the law, it is necessary to go back to the first reported case concerning the medical treatment of a child of Re B in 1981, around which time Ian Kennedy argued that whilst medical practice should be regulated by the law, this was not best achieved through case law. This chapter explains how the law, now given as standard in judgments and affirmed by the Supreme Court in Gard and centred upon determination of the best interests of the child, became established. However, it also demonstrates that cases concerning the medical treatment of children also address the balance of responsibilities between those caring for the child, and that decisions need to be understood within the particular legal, political, social, and historical context in which they were decided.
