Your Health Care Rights if You're Under Eighteen
by: Northwest Justice Project
I’m under 18 years of age. What health care services can I get without the consent of my parent or guardian?
Outpatient mental health counseling, if you’re thirteen or older.
Outpatient substance abuse treatment, if you’re thirteen years of age or older.
Birth control services, at any age. (You also have the right to refuse birth control services at any age.)
Treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), if you’re fourteen years of age or older. (This includes tests and treatment to determine if you have an STD.)
An abortion and abortion-related services, at any age without the consent of a parent, guardian or the man who impregnated you.
If you’re over 18 or emancipated, you have all the health care rights of an adult. You may receive or refuse any type of treatment you desire without anyone's consent. If you’re under 18 you can, under certain circumstances, become emancipated and have all the rights and responsibilities of an adult. Our publication Emancipation of Minors has the forms and instructions to get an emancipation.
In circumstances other than those listed above, your right to receive health care treatment at the age of 18 or under without the consent of your parent or guardian is unclear. State laws seem to say you need your parent's or guardian's permission. On the other hand, Washington State Supreme Court decisions indicate that people under eighteen have significant privacy rights in what happens to your bodies.
If you need medical treatment without your parent's consent, and it’s not clear from the above that you have a right to have that treatment without your parent's consent, talk to a health care provider. Ask the provider if your conversation is "privileged.” (That means it won’t be revealed to anyone else without your permission.) If it is, tell the provider why it’s important that you get the medical treatment you need without your parent's or a guardian's permission. Then ask if the provider is willing to treat you under those circumstances and conditions.
This publication provides general information concerning your rights and responsibilities. It’s not intended as a substitute for specific legal advice.
This information is current as of the date of its printing, May 2011.
(Permission for copying and distribution granted to the Alliance for Equal Justice and to individuals for non-commercial use only.)
Last Reviewed On: 05/21/11
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