ABA Family Legal Guide

Health-Care Law

Patients' Rights

Confidentiality and Privacy

Do I have a right to know what's in my child's medical record?

To a certain extent, you control what goes into your child's medical record, particularly when your child is very young. If you do not tell the pediatrician that your child received medical treatment from an ophthalmologist or a chiropractor, the pediatrician will not be aware of that treatment.

The situation is very different for older children, who might be able to keep information from you. What happens when your child becomes a teenager? Do you still get to see your child's medical information?

The federal privacy rule generally gives parents the right to access information about their minor child. However, the federal rules do not preempt state laws, so state laws have the final say in most states.

The law differs from state to state. The rules often hinge on what the state defines as the age of majority for health-care purposes—in a few states, it's fourteen; in others, it's eighteen—and the age of majority may vary in a state depending on the circumstances. In many states, such as Illinois, if your child becomes pregnant and asks for an abortion, you no longer may be given access to her medical records. In Montana, on the other hand, parents retain the right to access a child's medical records because her parents are considered to have the right to protect her from decisions she makes as a minor. Many states have particular statutes dealing with minors' records and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Some states resolve the issue by letting the doctor decide whether it would be in the child's best interest to let parents see the information.