The Joint Commission on Health Care is tackling an issue that the members say is much more complex than it may first appear: whether minors may voluntarily consent to inpatient psychiatric treatment WITHOUT the permission of their parents or guardians. With an estimated 930 minors impacted by this dilemma each year, the commission says the problem needs to be addressed.
New state laws make it easier to provide psychiatric treatment and longer inpatient care to minor teens who object to it. Parents object less often but are sometimes concerned about the costs or family stigma. Senior Policy Analyst Stephen Weiss says enabling minors to consent could improve their health, but there also may be complications.
“The adversarial situation may not get resolved during the treatment. And this can interfere with the discharge plan as children are discharged to their homes. There’s a potential for provider steering or coercion of minors into inpatient treatment. And then how will the providers be paid? Who covers the cost?”
Health Secretary Bill Hazel adds that the scope of the challenge is even greater.
“The issue of children needing services and families either wanting them or not is true through all facets of this. And dealing with just this inpatient thing by itself is important but may not be sufficient to really help us get some consistency system-wide.”
Policy options could include enabling courts to give consent. The members plan to make recommendations in October.
