Patient consent to the medical treatment provided by the doctor has always been of great importance to doctors. During their medical practice, the physician needs to ensure that the patient has provided their consent before the start of the treatment. Typically, in cases where the patient is underage, consent has to be obtained from the patient's parent or legal guardian. The law considers minors are incompetent to give consent with respect to their medical management.
Generally, this course of action is pretty straightforward and seems to have no problems. However, what happens if a minor patient especially an adolescent asks for a different treatment option from what their parents want for them? This could put the physicians in a difficult position since their primary obligation is towards their patient and not towards the parents or society.
