%0 Journal Article
%T ¡®Mental capacity¡¯, ¡®sufficient maturity¡¯, and ¡®capable of understanding¡¯ in relation to children: how should health professionals interpret these terms?
%A Basil J Pillay
%A Jerome A Singh
%J South African Journal of Psychology
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0081246317747148
%X South Africa¡¯s Children¡¯s Act 38 of 2005 requires health professionals to determine whether a child possesses ¡®sufficient maturity¡¯ and ¡®mental capacity¡¯ to make decisions about themselves in relation to surgery, treatment, and HIV testing. Similarly, the National Health Act 61 of 2003 requires a child to be ¡®capable of understanding¡¯ to provide informed consent in research. However, neither the Children¡¯s Act nor the National Health Act defines these terms. Moreover, there is no common definition of ¡®sufficient maturity¡¯ among healthcare professionals in South Africa. Appreciating how foreign law interprets ¡®mental capacity¡¯ and how different healthcare professionals evaluate ¡®maturity¡¯ could prove illuminative in respect to how these terms could be interpreted by health professionals in South Africa, and elsewhere
%K Capability
%K capacity
%K child autonomy
%K child informed consent
%K maturity
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0081246317747148