New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS (CARE AND PROTECTION) ACT 1998 - SECT 174

174 Emergency medical treatment

(1) A medical practitioner may carry out medical treatment on a child or young person without the consent of--

(a) the child or young person, or

(b) a parent of the child or young person,

if the medical practitioner is of the opinion that it is necessary, as a matter of urgency, to carry out the treatment on the child or young person in order to save his or her life or to prevent serious damage to his or her health.

(2) A registered dentist may carry out dental treatment on a child or young person without the consent of--

(a) the child or young person, or

(b) a parent of the child or young person,

if the dentist is of the opinion that it is necessary, as a matter of urgency, to carry out the treatment on the child or young person in order to save his or her life or to prevent serious damage to his or her health.

(3) Medical or dental treatment carried out on a child or young person under this section is taken, for all purposes, to have been carried out with the consent of--

(a) in the case of a child--a parent of the child, or

(b) in the case of a young person--the young person.

(4) Nothing in this section relieves a medical practitioner or registered dentist from liability in respect of the carrying out of medical or dental treatment on a child or young person, being a liability to which the medical practitioner or dentist would have been subject had the treatment been carried out with the consent of--

(a) in the case of a child--a parent of the child, or

(b) in the case of a young person--the young person.