Law Denies Parents Access to Medical Records for Children as Young as 10: Wake-Up Call to Parents across America

Lisa Bourne : Jan 30, 2019
LifeSiteNews.com

As it stands right now, parents are still barred from access to most of their children's records as of the child reaching age 12 even if the child consents to access.

(Coralville, IA)—[Lifesitenews.com] An Iowa father has been advised he no longer has access to his daughter's medical records now that she has turned 12 years of age and the hospital policy—tied to federal law—has raised a red flag regarding parental rights. (Screengrab image: via LifeSiteNews-Shutterstock)

"As a parent, I was really concerned," Kevin Christians told the local ABC affiliate. "I really can't understand why they would implement this policy."

Christians received a letter from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) informing him he was losing access to his daughter's records and asked KCRG-TV to investigate.

"We believe that children at this age should take a more active role in their own health care and have a choice to keep some information private," the letter says.

What the letter doesn't say is that the hospital's practice of mandating medical privacy for adolescents, even from their parents, is actually in keeping with federal law, though implementation is largely left up to the individual states.

The law, enacted in 2002, derives from of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) passed by Congress in 1996.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the HIPAA Privacy Rule "generally allows a parent to have access to the medical records about his or her child, as his or her minor child's personal representative when such access is not inconsistent with state or other law."

There are three scenarios where the parent would not be the minor's personal representative under the Privacy Rule; when the minor consents to... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Click here to continue reading.