LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In Michigan, a teenager can’t get a tattoo without parental permission, can’t buy a pack of cigarettes, can’t sign a mortgage, and can’t vote. But under certain circumstances, they can receive medical care and keep the records hidden from mom and dad.
That includes some pregnancy-related care, sexually transmitted infection treatment, substance abuse services, limited outpatient mental health counseling for teens age 14 and older, contraceptive services provided through federally funded Title X family planning programs, and certain care provided to emancipated minors. In many of these situations, the minor – not the parent – controls access to the related medical records.
MORE NEWS: House Oversight Chair: Rx Kids a Prescription for Fraud
Some Michigan lawmakers think that’s backwards.
Rep. Joseph Aragona (R-Clinton Township) has introduced House Bill 5974, legislation that would require healthcare providers to give parents access to their minor children’s medical records. The bill is currently before the House Health Policy Committee.
Restoring parental access.
Under current Michigan law, parents generally have the right to review their child’s medical records. However, there is an exception when a minor legally obtains certain healthcare services without parental consent or notification. In those cases, which we listed previously, the minor controls access to those records. These exceptions are scattered throughout Michigan laws – and compiled in an Issue Brief from the Network for Public Health Law.
House Bill 5974 would eliminate that exception and make clear that parents, guardians, and others acting in place of a parent may examine or obtain a minor’s medical records, except where federal law says otherwise.
Supporters call it parental rights. Critics call it a threat to privacy.
Supporters argue the proposal simply restores what many parents assume is already the law: that they have access to the medical information of children they are legally responsible for raising, supporting, and making decisions for. Critics counter that confidential healthcare can be important for vulnerable teens seeking treatment they might otherwise avoid.
The debate ultimately comes down to a simple question: when it comes to a child’s medical care, who should be kept in the loop – the parents, or everyone but the parents?
