Details of minors' rights below
- in the healthcare service
- at the pharmacy
- In MyKanta.
In the healthcare service
Rights regarding prescriptions
The healthcare unit makes an assessment of whether minors are capable of self-determination. If the healthcare personnel so assesses, minors have the same rights as adults.
Therefore, they are able to give their consent on
- producing a printout of their prescriptions summary
- checking their overall medication regimen
- cancelling their prescription
- renewing their prescription and providing their phone number for notifications by text message.
Rights regarding medical records
A minor capable of self-determination can
- consent to disclosure of their medical records for treatment purposes
- refuse to allow disclosure of their records.
- Also covers disclosure of records to parents and guardians.
If the minor is not capable of self-determination, the parent or guardian gives the consent.
- A minor's parents, guardian or other person responsible for their care has no right to refuse disclosure of the minor's medical records to a healthcare unit treating the minor.
At the pharmacy
A minor can
- collect their prescribed medicines from the pharmacy
- collect medicines on behalf of others.
Currently, a person under 18 cannot collect medicines on electronic prescriptions from pharmacies in other European countries, because there is no facility for minors to give the necessary consent in MyKanta.
A person over 15 can
- renew a prescription at a pharmacy
- give consents relating to prescriptions at a pharmacy
- Consents for younger patients are always given by the parent or guardian.
However, a minor cannot be given permission by consent to request
- a medication summary
- a medications review of the person on behalf of whom the minor is acting
- cancellation of a medicine or
- renewal of a prescription.
In MyKanta
In MyKanta, a minor can
- view prescriptions and medical records entered in Kanta Services from 1 August 2016
- request renewal of a prescription.
In MyKanta, a minor cannot themselves
- sign for information as received
- give consents
- set refusals
- give their wishes on organ donation or a living will.
Minors have the right to decide whether or not their records are shown to their parents or guardians, if they have been assessed as sufficiently mature for self-determination by a healthcare unit. In such a case, the health service can block the parent or guardian from viewing the records in MyKanta. However, parents or guardians are currently unable to view the records of a child over 10 in MyKanta.
When a minor reaches the age of 18, they have access also to their records entered before 1 August 2016, when acting on behalf of a minor was adopted in Kanta Services.
Under-aged parent or guardian
If a person under 18 is a child's parent or guardian, they have the same rights to take care of their under-aged child’s affairs as an adult parent or guardian.
In other European countries, a parent or guardian under 18 is currently deemed to be under-aged, and they have no right to act on the child's behalf.