BackgroundIn accordance with parental legal duties, parents and guardians should be informed about health issues relevant to child health. Current Spanish legislation acknowledges autonomy from 16 years or emancipated minors. This study analyses the information given to the parents or legal guardians of minors over 14 years of age attending a tertiary-level general hospital emergency department on psychoactive substance intoxication (alcohol, cannabis, benzodiazepines). Material and methodsThe medical records of minors treated in the emergency department of a tertiary-level hospital, between 2016 and 2017, were reviewed. A survey of medical and nursing professionals from the emergency services was also conducted. ResultsOf the medical records that mentioned that the minor attended the emergency department with friends (11.5%), 5 (9.6%) did not specify if the parents or guardians were called. Of the 26 medical records (50%) in which there was no mention of whether if the minor attended alone or accompanied, 22 (42.3%) made no mention of informing parents. The study data show that 28 of the 35 respondents (80%) always notified if the minor had not been accompanied to the emergency department by a parent or guardian. ConclusionsThere is lack of information relating to informing parents/guardians, as well as a discrepancy between the data provided by health professionals and the medical reports analysed.