Treatment of adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Under the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA), every person is presumed to have the capacity to make a decision with respect to his or her treatment, including a child, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe otherwise. A person will be considered capable to make decisions with respect to a treatment, if he or she is able to understand the information that is relevant to making a decision about the treatment and able to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision or lack of a decision. If a person fails either branch of this test, a person is incapable of consenting to his or her own treatment. Where a patient is an infant, it is obvious that the child lacks the capacity to make his or her own treatment decisions. However, a determination as to whether an adolescent has the requisite capacity may not be so simple. If capable, adolescents can make decisions with respect to their treatment even if the decision could arguably lead to a negative outcome. If a health practitioner determines that an adolescent is incapable to make treatment decisions, the adolescent may apply to the Consent and Capacity Board (CCB) for a review of that decision.