Introduction

A health care provider has to ask themselves, “Can I refuse to exclude the parents from their child’s medical records? The privacy between the doctor and the minor is not an outright. According to Medical Dictionary, privacy is the patient’s rights and expectations that personal health information is shared only between professionals who need to manage the patient. Each state has different policies regarding whether or not a minor may exclude their parents from their “personal” medical records; nevertheless, state/federal laws are to defend the personal data of the minor. As a parent, they are to have a grip on the values of their child’s health, and they have every right to know what is going on with their child’s health. Minor’s are to be counted for and minor’s do not have equal rights as most adults do; therefore, while a child is still developing, a parent has every right to know what is going on with his/or her child regardless of what the minor what think.

Minor’s Values & Rights

A major U.S law is the freedom and liberty for any and everyone. “Freedom of expression consists of the rights to freedom of speech, press, assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, and the implied rights of association and belief.” (U.S. Const. Amend. I.) A patient has the ability to make their own health decisions if they choose to do so. It is typical for a minor to care more about short term, reckless things rather than the outcome of their foolish decision. In Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital, Justice Cardozo stated, “every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body.”

According to “Law and Legal”, there is a law for mature minor’s for them to have the right to refuse certain medical choices. “Mature minor doctrine is a legal principal which allows a minor to make decisions about his or her health, if they can show that they are mature enough to make a health/medical decision on their own. Majority of the states do not pay any attention to the “Mature Minor Doctrine” Law, but states that do use it, determine the rights based off of age, and if they can mentally and physically prove it. When the law is used, it is usually used for minor’s who are typically under the age of 16, but it vary well determines on the issues at hand, which would make the law become questionable.  For example, in the state of Alabama, Oregon and Pennsylvania, children 14 years of age and older are allowed to exclude their parents and make decisions on their own; but at that age, are they truly a “mature” minor? The next law/rule is the “true” mature minor rule, which authorizes a child to assent any type of health treatment they desire to if the state court decides you are “mature” enough.

Parental Values & Rights

Typically, the doctors make a logical assumption that the parent or legal guardian will make the decision for the minor. A child should not be able to make a decision without their parents, reasons being that the decision they make could possible be life or death; or the decision they make could permanently damage the child’s health. Parents have the say-so, because the medical choice of the child can and will affect the family financial as well as emotional; the decision could not be “negative”, but it will affect all those involved in some type of negative way. To a certain degree, parents may or may not hold a religious opinion/view, which may determine what they allow their child to do medically with their health. For instance, many religions do not believe in blood transfusions, but a child cannot be prevailed based on what the parent believes. Another example is a Jehovah’s Witness; the court stated that the parent/guardian couldn’t use their religion to stop the child from having a medical and health treatment.

As a parent, there are unquestionable task that are assumed they should attain for their children. According to Dr. Richard Miller, majority of these laws are not commanded. Generally, as a parent, you are to provide and protect your child no matter what the circumstance may possibly be. According to the “Due Process Clause”, a parent does not have to do much more for the child than provide and protect; a parent is not required to give much more, because that is already enough. The “Due Process” is the ability to take legal action when rights a re violated; derived from the words due, owed or owing as a natural or moral right, and process, to proceed against by law. As a parent, you have the right to raise your child however you decide to; the state will only intercede if matters get out of hand (such as rape or abuse). For instance, the parent can make the choice for their child to be homeschooled or put into private school, their decision; but if they see the child is being neglected, the state could either take away the rights of the parent and or take the child away to be placed into foster care. The court cares for the court sometimes more than the parent. The court cares about the safety of the child, with high hopes for them to make the right choices in life, and for them to learn to be independent.

Recently states have contemplated including the parental choice in medical decisions, they can intervene and can step in when they suppress that the care may and can end in the result of death. If a minor has not been judged, the court can give permission to the minor over the parent, which means the parent does not have much say so in the situation.

 

State Power & Rights

 

The federal and or state government have a total of 3 main reasons that will possible affect the medical decisions for children. The first main reason is that the state wants to protect the life of U.S. citizens. “We hold truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This document proves that the government does care about the lives of others.

A commonly used doctrine is the “Parens Patriae”. This the Latin term for “parent of the nation” This law refers to the public policy power of the state to intervene against an abusive or negligent parent, legal guardian and/or informal caretaker, and to act as the parent of any child or individual who is in need of protection. According to the Medical-Dictionary, in the United States, the doctrine has had its greatest application in the treatment of children, mentally ill persons, and other individuals who are legally incompetent to manage their affairs, the state is the supreme guardian of all children within its jurisdiction, and state courts have the inherent power to intervene to protect the best interests of children whose welfare is jeopardized by controversies between parents. This inherent power is generally supplemented by legislative acts that define the scope of child protection in a state. The state has the right to make decisions concerning any mental health treatment on behalf of one who is mentally challenged to make their own decision, but the state is very limited on the choices they decide to make.

This authority is intended to further the public trust, safeguard the general and economic welfare of a state’s residents, protect residents from illegal practices, and assure that the benefits of federal law are not denied to the general population. This doctrine allows the state to figure out the relationship between the parent and the legal guardian of the child.

 

Conclusion

Making a medical decision is not something one should do, without the guidance of another.  By one being a minor, one needs an adult to make a legal medical decision for the child, even if they are said to be “mature”. To involve the parent(s), minor(s), doctors, and many others may be very risky, due to all the many suggestions and opinions given all at once.