Child Medical Consent Form

Child Medical Consent Form

The playful and explorative nature of children often leads to unfavorable situations. Injuries from riding a bike or from running around and playing are common among children and often coined as part of the childhood experience. However, these situations may be dangerous and require medical attention from professionals. As much as the parent wants, they cannot be around their children at all times. So as part of their measure to take care of their children, a parent or legal guardian can prepare a child medical consent form that will authorize another individual to process the medical needs of the child. Read More

As much as parents want to stay by their children’s side at all times, especially when they get hurt or sick, it can be impossible. So, the best course of action is to plan and delegate another individual to care for your child’s medical needs. To formally assign a particular person, you need to prepare a medical consent form for children. This form is a legal and enforceable document stating that the individual is responsible for the child and may make the necessary decisions for the treatment. Most importantly, this document is honored by different medical facilities such as hospitals and physician’s offices. The authorized person must remember to present this document every time they visit the medical facility.

Similar to a child or minor’s healthcare power of attorney form, the individual authorized in this medical consent form oversees and makes necessary decisions for the patient. But this consent form focuses explicitly on any healthcare situation. For parents who are not always around because of work and other circumstances, filing this form is a necessity. Here are some steps highlighting its elements with additional tips on how to create a medical consent form for children.

1. Choose a Suitable Caregiver

Even before writing the document, you must already have a suitable caregiver in mind. This authorized person must share the same goal as you and that is to provide the best care and protection for the child. Moreover, this decision significantly affects how the document will be carried out. Incapable authorized persons will be unable to decide what will be the best for the patient and will end up relying on you.

2. State Your Consent Firmly

Start the document strong by directly stating that you expressly grant your consent to whoever is the bearer of the document. This statement must also set the parameters of the caregiver’s power. Most often, the legal guardian or parent allows any type of treatment that will improve the condition and overall well-being of the patient. Aside from this condition, the consent form also states the parent’s permission to administer anesthesia whenever needed.

3. Set a Clear Timeframe

Once the caregiver and consent are decided, you must also set a particular timeframe for the consent form’s validity. If you wish to give this consent form to your child’s teacher, you can set the school year period as the timeframe for its validity. However, there are other cases where the child needs regular medical care. You can set the period to an average of 90 days. After the 90 days lapses, you can pen a new form and have it notarized.

4. Provide Basic Contact Information

The primary contact information of the parents or legal guardians are also necessary for this consent form. If there are pressing concerns that need your direct involvement, these pieces of information will come in handy. As for emergency cases, these details are part of the required information to process the child’s hospitalization.

5. Indicate Additional Medical Details

The latter part of the document provides additional medical details that the medical facility may need. These pieces of information are also important to include in the consent form because the caregiver may not necessarily know these specific data. The required additional information often includes the prevalent medical record, food or drug allergies, and insurance. The details of the patient’s physician are also deemed necessary, especially when a new doctor treats the patient. The attending physician may have to ask questions from the patient’s physician.

Frequently Asked Questions

The main difference between consent and informed consent is the extent of the patient’s decision behind the decision. As for informed consent, the patient should know the basics of the treatment or medication before making a decision. Consent, in general, is simply granting permission for something.

Even when dealing with child patients, a physician can treat the patient without a consent form in emergency situations. Delay in acting out life-saving procedures to wait for the consent form can endanger the life of the patient.

A medical consent form only needs notarization when the first consent form expires. If the first medical consent expires before the patient completes their treatment, another consent form must be penned and notarized.

Who can I consider as my child’s caregiver?

Child medical consent forms are assigned to other caregivers by the parents or legal guardians in case something unfavorable happens to their child when they are not around. Of course, the guardian must choose to trust a competent individual to care for their child. The obvious choices are other close family members or a school or daycare teacher.

The average length of a consent’s validity is 90 days granted that the document is signed and dated. Once this timeframe lapses, the parent or legal guardian must draft another consent form to extend the authorization.

One’s health is always a priority. As for parents, their children’s health often comes before theirs. That is why there are more measures that allow the parents to care for their child’s health even when they are not around. Preparing a medical consent form is only one evidence that parents and legal guardians think and plan ahead for their children. Medical consent forms are not only for children who have preexisting health conditions; it is important for every child to have this consent form ready.