Patients Over 18
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center provides important information regarding medical treatment for patients over 18.
Informed Consent and Advance Directives
If you are an adult patient age 18 or older who has the ability to make an informed decision, you have the right to make your own medical treatment decisions. You also have the right to draft an advance directive giving instructions for health care when you are no longer able to participate in treatment decisions.
For more information or for copies of advance directive forms, contact Admitting at 513-636-4207, speak to your nurse or doctor, or call the operator, (Dial 0 inside the hospital or 513-636-4200 outside the hospital.) and ask for the bioethics committee member on call.
A Note to Parents of Adult Children
At age 18, children become legally responsible for providing consent for all medical treatments. However, if you or your doctor feels your child is not able to understand the risks and benefits of medical treatment and cannot make informed medical decisions, a legal guardian must be appointed for that purpose. To obtain legal guardianship over an adult child, parents must apply to the probate court in the county where the child lives. For more information, please contact a lawyer or the probate court.
