Age of autonomy

doi:10.1136/bmj.c2648

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Karla Hemming, senior research fellow1

¹University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT

k.hemming{at}bham.ac.uk

Does 7 being the age of autonomy always benefit the child?1 Not all children will demonstrate this capability so young, and so the person who decides whether a child is autonomous is important. Usually it is the consulting doctor, who may have never met the child before the consultation.

In a recent episode of Embarrassing Bodies (Channel 4, 7 April 2010), a child …