Small newspaper +

Does an 8-year-old child have to go to the hospital for a cast change without his or her parents if the whole family is quarantined for the doctor’s appointment? When corona laws put parents in a bind. Try a little orientation.

From Daniela Bachal | 1.55 p.m., March 16, 2021

The eight-year-old son of our reader unfortunately got the Broken arm. “After that my wife had one positive PCR test and we were all quarantined “says the man. House arrest or not, but in the end there was an urgent need to have a plaster change on the child in the hospital. “When we asked at the hospital, the whole procedure for our son was explained to us: Appointment very early in the morning to have as little contact as possible, plus an entrance test, of course. And then up to four hours to wait for the result of the PCR test According to the doctor, plaster of paris must be changed in any case – in the event of a positive result, in an emergency, also on the Covid ward, “says the father. As a responsible citizen and because you know that they Police like to check compliance with quarantine measures, he then asked the authorities whether he could accompany his son to the hospital. The answer was a clear no – and the hint that you can expect the child to walk alone.

The parents then registered their child (who initially saw no problem in this) with the Red Cross for sole transport. “I was told several times that that my son himself could not even consent to treatmentbecause it is still under 14 years old, “says the father. During the night the boy’s courage waned and he got crying fits from sheer fear, as the reader relates. The big dilemma in which he found himself as a father : “Even if all suitable protective measures were taken during transport – and there are plenty of options there – I would definitely have against them Quarantine requirements if I had accompanied my son. “With a lot of luck, our reader found a suitable companion for his child at the last minute, but he would like to spare other families from similar dramas. Consequently, he asks himself:” What rights and obligations do parents have really in such a situation? “We asked Harald Christandl, a lawyer from Graz. For him, the present case is a classic, as it was in times of the pandemic very different legal interests and the citizen is left pretty much alone with weighing up his interests: “The justified reason for strict compliance with home quarantine to protect against the spread of Covid-19 is here Obligation to supervise and one if necessary Consent to medical treatment opposite, without there being an exact legal regulation “, says the lawyer. Although the duty of supervision over a minor could be according to Styrian Youth Act can be transferred to a third party, but consent to medical treatment is a difficult topic in which the delegated supervisory authority, but also the scope of the medical treatment has to be weighed and assessed in relation to the individual case.