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Locally everything medical(ish) that isn't sex related needs 18 yrs. Everything from vaccination requiring a signed consent form and if under 18, a parent or l
by VLM 11y ago
Locally everything medical(ish) that isn't sex related needs 18 yrs. Everything from vaccination requiring a signed consent form and if under 18, a parent or legal guardian, to ear (or other) piercing, to tattoos.
The traveling health care fair came to my employer recently and I remember pretty much "everything" required a similar boilerplate consent form, even just pricking your finger for blood sugar screening.
For consistencies sake, 18 yrs sounds reasonable. If we're going to apply boilerplate almost everywhere, why not simply apply it everywhere?
There is no particular reason 18 is a good age. Eighteen and a day passes for all medical decisions but weirdly enough not to drink a simple beer, and some states have really weird legislation about exactly which vegetation is permitted to possess / smoke. Somewhere in the range of 13 to 22 for all of the above sounds about right.
- DanBC 11y agoYou don't think age of consent for sexual activity would be a useful age? In England we have Gillick and Fraser competence. http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-protection-system/legal-definition-child-rights-law/gillick-competency-fraser-guidelines/ http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-protection-sy...
- TallGuyShort 11y agoThose Fraser guidelines seem very sensible, IMO - I had not seem them before. My concern is motivated by the fact that in my experience with sex-ed programs in both Colorado and New Zealand, I witnessed the role of parents being actively undermined (a practice which those guidelines would seem to discourage). Sure, some people are shitty parents, and if my daughter is seeking such advice behind my back, maybe it's just because she should be able to, maybe it's because I'm already failing in parental responsibilities. But when I've heard the phrase "don't tell your parents about this" from multiple school officials as a student, I as a parent start being very concerned about whether or not government employees who are in a position to council students are generally going to follow the procedure, and actually encourage children to keep their parents in the loop when making serious decisions.
- TallGuyShort 11y agoThose Fraser guidelines seem very sensible, IMO - I had not seem them before. My concern is motivated by the fact that in my experience with sex-ed programs in both Colorado and New Zealand, I witnessed the role of parents being actively undermined (a practice which those guidelines would seem to discourage). Sure, some people are shitty parents, and if my daughter is seeking such advice behind my back, maybe it's just because she should be able to, maybe it's because I'm already failing in parental responsibilities. But when I've heard the phrase "don't tell your parents about this" from multiple school officials as a student, I as a parent start being very concerned about whether or not government employees who are in a position to council students are generally going to follow official, reviewed procedure or go off on their own agenda. +1 to those guidelines.
- Lawtonfogle 11y ago>You don't think age of consent for sexual activity would be a useful age? So 18 then. There are exceptions that allow less, but the 'no restrictions' is 18.
- nsgi 11y agoDepends on which state.
- Lawtonfogle 11y agoFederal is 18. Within a state may be less, but as soon as they cross federal lines, it is 18. Thus the 'no restrictions' is at 18.