Minors and protected adults

Minors

Consent

If you are capable of expressing your wishes and participating in the decision, your consent must always be sought.

Confidentiality

The physician may provide you with care without obtaining consent from those with parental authority under the following conditions:

• the intervention is necessary to protect your health;
• the doctor must attempt to persuade you to consult with those with parental authority;
• if you object, you must be assisted by an adult of your choice.

Access to Medical Records

If you are a minor, the right to access your medical records is exercised by your legal guardians. You may request that this access be granted through a doctor.

Education

To the extent that their hospital stay allows, school-age children are entitled to appropriate educational support within healthcare facilities.

Adults under guardianship

When the mental or physical faculties of a person over the age of eighteen are impaired by illness, disability, or age-related decline to the point of jeopardizing their interests, certain protective measures may be taken.

Guardianship: This arrangement is reserved for individuals who require permanent representation in civil matters by someone acting on their behalf.

Judicial guardianship: This measure allows the person to act on their own behalf, but the law ensures that their actions do not cause harm by making them easily voidable.

Guardianship with assistance: Under this intermediate arrangement, the person is assisted but not represented.

The consent of the protected adult is required for any medical procedure, as their refusal prevents the provision of care (Art. L 1111-4, paragraph 5, of the Public Health Code).

Validity of a Signed Consent Form

It varies depending on the nature of the protection:

• A consent form signed by an adult under judicial protection is valid.
• The signature of an adult under guardianship is also valid, provided that the individual is assisted by their guardian and that proof of this assistance is included on the form or in the medical record.
• Consent from an adult under guardianship is obtained, but the guardian’s authorization is always required.

Trusted Person

Only individuals under judicial protection or under curatorship may designate a trusted person. Adults under guardianship do not have this option.

Access to Medical Records

Patient under judicial protection or guardianship: unrestricted access.

Patient under guardianship: only the guardian has access to the records.

Organ and Tissue Donation

In the event of death, if the deceased was an adult under guardianship, organ and tissue donation may only take place if the guardian provides written authorization.

Adults under judicial protection or under curatorship are not subject to these provisions.

Biomedical research

Consent is given by the patient, assisted by their conservator, when they are under judicial protection or under curatorship, or by the guardian in the case of guardianship. If an adult patient is incapable of giving consent and the research involves a serious risk of infringement on privacy or bodily integrity, the guardianship judge decides whether or not to authorize the biomedical research.