This Montana statute governs when a minor may independently consent to health services without parental approval, covering situations such as emancipation, self-sufficiency, pregnancy, communicable disease, substance abuse, or emergency care. It does not license or set operating standards for any specific behavioral health, IDD, or foster care facility type; it is a patient-rights and consent law applicable to health professionals and health care facilities generally. Compliance staff should note that health professionals treating minors under self-consent for drug/substance abuse or STDs must provide counseling or a referral for counseling.
View official sourceMCA Contents TITLE 41 CHAPTER 1 Part 4 41-1-402 Validity of consent of minor for health services Montana Code Annotated 2025 TITLE 41. MINORS CHAPTER 1. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF MINORS Part 4. Consent for Health Services Validity Of Consent Of Minor For Health Services 41-1-402 . Validity of consent of minor for health services. (1) This part does not limit the right of an emancipated minor to consent to the provision of health services or to control access to protected health care information under applicable law. (2) The consent to the provision of health services and to control access to protected health care information by a health care facility or to the performance of health services by a health professional may be given by a minor when the health professional, in good faith and with a reasonable belief supported by fact, determines that the minor meets any of the following descriptions: (a) the minor professes to be or to have been married or to have had a child or to have graduated from high school; (b) the minor professes to be or is found to be separated from the minor's parent, parents, or legal guardian for whatever reason and is providing self-support by whatever means; (c) the minor professes or is found to be pregnant or afflicted with any reportable communicable disease, including a sexually transmitted disease, or drug and substance abuse, including alcohol. This self-consent applies only to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of those conditions specified in this subsection (2)(c). The self-consent in the case of pregnancy, a sexually transmitted disease, or drug and substance abuse also obliges the health professional, if the health professional accepts the responsibility for treatment, to counsel the minor or to refer the minor to another health professional for counseling. (d) the minor needs emergency care, including transfusions, necessary to prevent serious injury or harm to the minor. If emergency care is rendered, the parent, parents, or legal guardian must be informed as soon as practical except under the circumstances mentioned in this subsection (2). (3) A minor who has had a child may give effective consent to health service for the child. (4) A minor may give consent for health care for the minor's spouse if the spouse is unable to give consent by reason of physical or mental incapacity. History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 189, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 312, L. 1974; amd. Sec. 23, Ch. 100, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 69-6101; amd. Sec. 14, Ch. 440, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 188, Ch. 42, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 396, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 527, L. 2023.