Your Rights and Obligations > Civil law > Other

Questions and answers

When do I need my parents’ permission for medical care?

If you are under 14, you must always get permission from your parents or your tutor, whether it’s for plastic surgery, a routine operation, a drug prescription, rehabilitation therapy, or even that brain transplant that your brother so urgently needs!

If you are between 14 and 18 (like Marie-Alice), you need your parents’ permission for medical care that is not required by your state of health, if the care poses a serious risk to your health and could have serious and permanent side effects. The doctor or the hospital will have to get your parents’ consent before beginning treatment.

Even in cases where you can give consent on your own, if the treatment requires you to stay more than 12 hours in a hospital, the hospital must inform your parents.

Before having plastic surgery to improve her appearance, Marie-Alice must therefore get her parents’ permission. After all, her operation is not required for her health…she’s just sick of her brother suggesting that the family use her as a coat-rack!

I am 14 (or 15, 16, 17) years old. What kinds of medical decisions can I make by myself?

You can make medical decisions by yourself when they are about care required by your state of health. “Required” care is care necessary for your physical and mental health, as opposed to optional treatments like plastic surgery.

You can also make decisions about care not required by your state of health, but only if it does not pose a serious risk to your health and does not carry a risk of serious and permanent side effects.

Some examples? Suzanne, Marie-Alice’s best friend, did not need her parents’ permission to get a prescription for the birth control pill. Mimi, another friend, did not have to talk to her parents about getting an abortion. And Yuri, their daredevil skateboarder friend, could make a decision on his own to get stitches after missing an ambitious 360-back-sharp-fulledge-inyourfacegrab-upindiair-flip.

Can I decide by myself to donate an organ or bodily substance (blood, bone marrow, hair, etc.)?

The general rule is that someone under 18 years old cannot donate a body part or bodily substance unless two conditions are met:

• the part or substance can replace itself
  
• donating the part or substance does not create a serious risk for the donor (Giving blood, for example, does not normally create a serious risk.)

But that’s not all! To donate a body part or substance, you also have to obtain permission from your parents or your tutor, and from the court. And, no, the silent approval of your pet iguana doesn’t count!

When deciding whether to allow a someone under 18 to donate a body part or bodily substance, the court will take into account opinions from:

• experts
  
• the person(s) with parental authority (usually the parents), or the mandatary, tutor, curator and tutorship council
  
• anyone with a particular interest in the person donating the body part or bodily substance
  
• the young person
  
  If you don’t want to donate a part of your body or bodily substance, everyone must respect your choice.

Can I decide to donate my body to science? Or sign an organ donor card?

Not so fast, Frankenstein! Anyone 14 or older can donate his body to science when he dies. But anyone under 14 must have permission from his parents or tutor.

The same holds true for consent to organ or tissue removal at death, commonly known as “organ donation” or “the signature on the back of my health card.”

If you don’t express any preference, the person who would normally make decisions about your health care (your parents, tutor, etc.) can make the decision.

Who has access to my medical records?

The rules on access to records are different depending on whether the records are in a health and social service institution such as a hospital, or in a doctor’s office.

Institution

If you aren’t yet 14 years old, you aren’t allowed access to your records.

If you are 14 or older, the general rule is that you can access your medical records by yourself. (When the records contain information provided by a third party (for example, a relative) or when letting you see the records would be very harmful to your health, your access might be restricted.)

As for your parents, the general rule is that, if you are under 18, they can consult your medical records. But there are some situations in which they cannot consult these records:

• If you are under 14, your parents cannot have access if the director of youth protection has decided this would be harmful to your health.
  
• If you are 14 or older, you can refuse access to your parents if the institution agrees that giving them access would be harmful to your health

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Doctor’s Office Records

If you are under 14, you are generally not allowed access to these records.

If you are 14 or older, you may access these records unless the doctor has a very good reason to refuse access (for example, if this could harm your health).

As for your parents, they can consult your records if you are under 14. If you are 14 or older, they can consult your records only with your consent.