Ms Moninne Griffith:

In Britain they apply the Gillick principle where 16 and 17 year olds can have consent but a health care professional makes his or her own professional assessment for those under the age of 16 to see if they have the required capacity to consent to treatment. I believe this makes absolute sense because health care professionals will say that some 14 year olds have much more capacity and are way more mature than some 19 year olds. It is quite artificial having an age as a limit and indicator of a person's capacity to consent to treatment. It is really about the individual and should be determined case by case.