Child Patient and Consent to Medical Treatment in Malaysia: A Legal Perspective

This article aims to determine whether in Malaysia a child patient can give a valid consent in law to his/her medical treatment. Is there any legal provision in Malaysia that allows patients who are still children to give their own consent? The issue of whether a patient who is still a child has the right to give consent to medical treatment needs to be researched and discussed in order to give clarity and certainty to the law so that it can in turn be used as the basis for medical and legal practice. Giving children the right to make their own decision pertaining to their medical treatment could be regarded as giving them justice in determining their own well-being. In this article the writers will refer to Malaysian laws that are relevant to the issue and henceforth determine whether there is a need for a specific law to be introduced dealing with consent to medical treatment by children.