Dental Treatment Consent Conflict

You are working as a Dental Therapist for Northland DHB. Jimmy age 11, attends the clinic with his mother for treatment. Jimmy's mother has already given written and verbal consent for the treatment to take place. Jimmy is a high risk patient and has a complex treatment plan, that comprises of a number of visits. As a practitioner you have chosen to complete the most urgent treatment first. The tooth you are treating in this appointment is causing Jimmy pain. After explaining the procedure to both Jimmy and his mother, you ask Jimmy if you can begin treatment. Jimmy informs you that he does not want to have any treatment done. After answering his questions surrounding the treatment and offering a different, less invasive procedure, Jimmy still does not consent to any treatment. However, Jimmy's mother wants the treatment to be carried out today.
The DHB has strict regulations in place, where the practitioner must also gain consent from the child being treated, as well as their parent//caregiver in order to carry out treatment. The child therefore must be fully informed of the treatment along with parent/caregiver. If the child does not give consent then treatment can not go ahead, even if the parent wants otherwise. However, this issue is subject to interpretation. As the child may be deemed by the practitioner too young to fully understand the reasoning behind the treatment and therefore consent conflict between child and parent/caregiver can arise.