The law does not determine between legal competency
and actual competency of minors in medical issues. The
objective of this paper is to put forward proposals to
amend the legislation to redefine legal competency on
the base that understanding should have more bearing
than age.
The English landmark case of Gillick is used to
analyse the Maltese situation. The Maltese legislation was
examined and it resulted that there is no legal definition
of what competency is. Various legislations use different
ages to define competency. The Genito-Urinary (GU)
Clinic was even given permission to assess a minor’s
competency itself and if it is determined by the medical
professional that the minor is competent then such minor
will be treated without the need for parental consent.
To substantiate the claim, in 2009 the researcher
carried out empirical research using both qualitative
and quantitative methods. Questionnaires were given to
children aged between 6 and 18. Structured and semistructured
interviews were used to interview legal and
medical professionals involved in the field.
By triangulating the results the conclusion reached
is that that minors do seek treatment without parental
consent and that there are medical professionals who
already treat minors without parental consent. There is
the need for legal reforms to substantiate the reality of
actual competency of minors.peer-reviewe
