Updates and background for this project (Digest)

Public Forum:

Minors’ Consent to Medical Treatment

Monday 27 November 2006

NSW Parliament House

Convened jointly by The Division of Law, Macquarie University and The Law Reform Commission of NSW

PROGRAMME

8:30 - 9:00 Registration

9:00 Opening of Forum: The Hon James Wood QC, NSW Law Reform Commission

9:15 - 10:45 Minors’ Consent to Medical Treatment and the Law

This session will explore the role of legal systems in regulating minors’ capacity to consent to medical treatment, drawing upon comparative approaches from other jurisdictions.

Chair: Don Chalmers, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania

Speaker: Derek Morgan, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology

“International Developments on the Law on Minors’ Consent to Medical Treatment”

Discussants: David Worswick, School of Law, Flinders University

Michael Fasher, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, NSW & ACT Faculty

Michelle Taylor - a young person’s perspective

Discussion

10:45 - 11:15 Morning Tea

11:15 - 12:30 Special Treatments: Special Dilemmas

Chair: Gillian Calvert, Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian

This session will examine different special treatment categories in consent to treatment legislation relating to minors. It will address the rationale for setting limits on minors’ capacity to consent to different types of treatment, outline possible inconsistencies and alternative approaches.

Justice Richard Chisholm: Commentary on Re Kevin and Re Alex

Issue 1: Palliative Care - Mary Chiarella, Centre for Health Services Management, University of Technology Sydney

Issue 2: Bone Marrow Transplantation - Tracey O’Brien, Cord & Marrow Transplant Program, Centre for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders, Sydney Children’s Hospital

Issue 3: Genetic Testing - Fiona Richards, Dept. of Clinical Genetics, Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Discussion

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 - 14:45 Minors with Special Needs

This session will examine areas where minors may have special needs in the context of law reform on the area of minors’ consent to medical treatment.

Chair: Deborah Frew, NSW Health

Issue 1: Street Kids - Melissa Kang, Department of General Practice, Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Issue 2: Minors in Detention Settings - Robyn Rosina, Justice Health NSW

Issue 3: Aboriginal Health - James Ward, Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council

Discussant: Jane Sanders, The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre

Discussion

14:45 - 15:10 Afternoon Tea

15:10 - 16:30 Making Decisions: Guardianship and the Courts, Capacity and Consent

This session will examine the role of tribunals and the courts in resolving problems related to minors’ decision-making capacity and conflicts between families, healthcare providers and minors.

Chair: Diane Robinson, NSW Guardianship Tribunal

Speaker: Cameron Stewart, Division of Law, Macquarie University

Discussants: John Devereaux, School of Law, University of Queensland

David Dossetor, Area Director, Mental Health, Children’s Hospital at Westmead

Discussion

16:30 - 16:45 Closing Remarks: Rosalind Croucher, Dean, Division of Law, Macquarie University

Conclusion