Emergency Medical Care & Treatment for Minors
without Parental Consent
SB 1114 Bradley & HB 817 Massullo
Florida law requires that in most instances, parental consent must be obtained prior to providing health care services to a minor.
Section 743.064 of the Florida Statutes provides a much-needed exception to this general rule.
This statute provides that physicians may provide emergency medical care and treatment without parental consent to any minor who has been injured in an accident or who is suffering from an acute illness, disease or condition, if a delay in providing care to obtain parental consent would endanger the health or physical well-being of the minor.
This exception, however, only applies to emergency medical care or treatment provided in a hospital or in a college health service.
Emergency medical care and treatment may only be provided outside of a hospital without parental consent by paramedics, emergency medical technicians and other emergency medical services personnel consistent with Chapter 401.
This means that a physician who arrives at the scene of an automobile accident to discover a minor bleeding to death from his/her injuries cannot legally provide emergency medical assistance to the minor without the consent of the minor’s parent or legal guardian. If the parent or guardian cannot be located and written consent for treatment obtained, the physician who provides emergency medical services to save the life of the minor is subject to criminal and administrative discipline.
It is inconceivable that any parent would want a physician to watch their child die and not be able to intervene with life saving medical treatment simply because a parent was not present to provide written consent.
This bill corrects the oversight in section 743.064 by allowing physicians to provide emergency medical treatment to minors anywhere such treatment is needed – not just in hospitals and college health services.
