Duma may allow doctors to perform emergency surgery without parental consent

Deputies of St. Petersburg’s legislative assembly have submitted a bill to the State Duma allowing a doctor to bring a child back to life without the consent of the child’s parents in cases where emergency treatment is unavoidable. As it was explained by the deputies of St. Petersburg, under this legislation, if parents or other legal representatives of a child under the age of fifteen do not give their consent to emergency intervention by doctors, on which the life of the child directly depends, then the medical institution reserves the right (but not the obligation) to file a claim in court in order to protect the interests of the minor. But it is usually quite difficult to implement this bill in practice, since it takes a long time to solve the problem, and in the case of emergency indications, surgery cannot be postponed. The deputies also recalled that the Family Code stipulates that “the rights of parents may not be exercised contrary to the interests of children,” and also states that federal law restricts the rights of family members to the extent necessary to protect other family members. As explained in a note to the bill, the law would restrict the rights of parents or other representatives, such as guardians, to refuse surgical intervention in a situation where medical intervention cannot be avoided for certain emergency indications in order to eliminate the threat to a child’s life. This bill has its force only if there is no other way to save human life or if there is no possibility of its implementation.