Last night, on Today Tonight, there was a segment about a 14 year old child being taken, by a school nurse, to a doctor who prescribed medication. Approval of the parents was not sought and they were not notified. Afterward I contacted a friend who is an experienced nurse and doctors receptionist who informed me that yes it is within the law for this action to be done, if the child is 14.

In the highlighted case on TT the girl was given script for the contraceptive pill, but that is irrelevant. The issue is non approval of the parents and not informing the parents.

I am amazed that such a law could be passed in our country where parents are the guardians until kids are 18 years old. Why have parents and parental groups allowed this situation. If it were my kid I would withdraw the child from that school and seek redress through law. After having a bloody lot to say. In my view it is blatant removal of parental rights. Talk about Big Brother.

I wonder if this, so called, law has ever been challenged in court and in light of the ruling given against DOCS in the Hepatitis B vaccine for a baby, I think it should be.

Why are you surprised? The constant slogan of "Protect the Children" and other nonsense has caused this. The screams of socialists, other activists and the religious have called for the Australian government to parent our children, who are now essentially the property of the State. What the hell did you think would happen? And where do you think our country is going appealing to this obsession.

Banjo

I don't watch TT so am not familiar with the case you've presented here.

Did the program outline the position of the parents? Quite possibly, and I'm only guessing, they strongly opposed their daughter using contraception for strict moral or religious reasons. In which case, a responsible adult in whom the girl had confided would be morally obliged to take some action, if he/she knew the girl was sexually active and likely to fall pregnant. The school authorities should have contacted the parents first, I agree, but maybe they already had, and had received a brickwall response.

"In the highlighted case on TT the girl was given script for the contraceptive pill, but that is irrelevant."

No, it is not irrelevant. What anyone is given in this situation is extremely pertinent as to the justification or otherwise of the actions. If the child was medicated to make them easier to teach, I would entirely agree with your reaction. In this case, however, I see sense in the action taken. I do agree with you it was presumptious and would need to know the full details before I defended it unreservedly.

Unfortunately, authorites often have to step in when parents are neglecting their responsibilities to their children. That's the way a caring society works. To suggest we should turn our backs and leave all authority in the hands of parents is only to invite further abuse and neglect

Steel

'The screams of socialists, other activists and the religious have called for the Australian government to parent our children, who are now essentially the property of the State."

Give us all a break! What 'socialists' have 'screamed' what? What other 'activists' are you referring to? You have made so many of these wild blanket statements that they have become totally meaningless. I'm sure most posters now ignore them, and quite probably the rest of your posts as well, which would be a shame because you do have some worthwhile ideas to contribute in amongst the bile.

I don't like the thought of a 14 year old girl on the pill, but what I think is worse is 14 year olds having babies.

Bronwyn,
The segment may still be on TTs website. According to the story, the first the mother knew anything of it was noticing the pill packet in the girls school bag. It did not say if the girl had spoken about contraception with her parents prior and knew there was disapproval. that could be so or perhaps she was afraid to talk to her parents. What she told the school nurse is anyones guess, but not all kids tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I feel what the doctor prescribed is not the issue, as it could have been a boy who was covering something he did not want his parents to know about.

In the case of emergency yes attention be given or if suspected child abuse DOCS notified, but other than that no one should have the right to prescribe medication or do medical proceedures without parental approval. To have the right to not inform the parents if the child requests is a violation.

I was of the opinion that schools had to get parental permission to give asprin. Some schools have banned the kids from doing handstands and cartwheels for safety reasons.

Bronwyn... that's a shame. If you took a serious look at what is happening in this country and yes... socialism... you will understand what i'm saying. Feminists (of course) are amongst the other activists (the message: always the Children; always the Family). Both parties have heavy socialist views but in their own ways and it's abuse has caused incidents like we see here. The children are taken from the parents, without their consent and decisions are made on their behalf by the State. Think about it for a minute. Look at the title of this thread. The cards are laid out. We are getting more and more controlling governments. These parties are unrepentant. Why would anyone rational parent want the government to have the power to take away their children and decide their fate, or start dictating to them how to raise their children? It doesn't makes sense...except to someone who think the government should rule their lives and oppress certain areas of the population, which I consider antithetical in a free society. Do you want to live in free country, or not? We already have religious laws being dicated to us about gay people who merely want the same freedom as everyone else.... they are currently second class citizens. Right now we think this is acceptable right now in a "free" country, and "open democracy". Things are being banned by the day. Laws are being created to restrict us more and more. It's unacceptable.