Emergency Medical Release

An emergency medical release is a form that gives caregivers and medical providers permission to authorize and administer emergency medical care to a minor child.

Emergency medical release forms protect your child from delayed treatment.

Medical release forms provide temporary caretakers with legal permission to authorize necessary emergency treatment for your child. Without a signed release form, healthcare providers cannot administer medical treatment to a minor without first obtaining explicit permission from a parent or legal guardian. This can result in long treatment delays and unnecessary pain should your child be injured or become ill while out of your care.

Many schools, organizations, and sports groups require parents to fill out a medical release form before allowing children to participate in athletics or field trips. The form protects your child and the organization in the event an injury or other emergency occurs and you are out of immediate reach. Additionally, all healthcare providers -including general practitioners- require a signed release form prior to administering any type of medical treatment to a minor child, although exceptions may be made in the event of a life threatening medical emergency.

Anyone taking care of your child needs a medical release form. For some caretakers, however, a medical release is mandatory or vital to the health of your child.

• Schools: Schools require medical release forms for all children attending school functions, participating in athletics, or leaving the school grounds for field trips or other activities.

• Sports Teams: Because of the risk of injury associated with participation in team sports, youth organizations and clubs require parents to sign a medical release form and to release the organization from any financial or legal liability in the event of an accident or injury.

• Relatives: Relatives who care for your minor child should have a signed emergency release form in order to obtain medical treatment should your child become ill or hurt while in their care.

Standard emergency medical release forms require parents to supply certain information for each minor child.

• Identifying information for both the child and legal guardian. This includes name, age, address, phone number, and other contact information.

• Insurance information, including the name and contact details of the insurance company, the policy number, the name of the child's pediatrician, and hospital preference.

• Medical information, such as existing health problems, allergies, past surgeries, and a list of current medications.

• Emergency contact information, such as the name, relationship, phone number, and address, for other relatives in case medical personnel are unable to reach the parents.

• Acknowledgment of any risks and the potential need for emergency medical care in the event of accident, injury, or illness.

• Release of legal and financial liability to protect the healthcare providers or caregivers against any claim a parent or legal guardian makes in reaction to medical attention rendered to the child.

• Signature of the parent or legal guardian authorizing emergency medical care if it becomes necessary.

While most schools and other organization will supply emergency medical release forms to parents as needed, copies of blank forms are available online. You can print these forms for future use, or to give to relatives or other caregivers who may be responsible for the care of your child.

• Internet Legal Research Group offers a blank surgical consent form for minors. This form costs $9.99, and is available by instant download from the website.

• Docstoc offers a variety of medical release forms for downloading and printing. You can search through a large database to find the appropriate form for your needs.

• Example form for permission to treat a minor child. This form is in PDF format.

You can also call your child's pediatrician or your local health department and ask for free emergency medical release forms to keep on hand.

In the event of a life-threatening medical emergency, healthcare providers may administer treatment under the assumption that parental consent is likely. In these instances, the provider may make decisions about your child's treatment that you would not approve of or consent to. Having a medical release form on file can help clarify your wishes.

In some cases, state and federal laws may override the presence or absence of a medical release form. In certain situations, minors can consent to medical care without parental permission or knowledge. Moreover, physicians providing this type of care are under no obligation to notify the parent or legal guardian of any services provided if they feel that doing so is not in the best interest of the child.

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