Consent to Treatment and Access to Minors' Medical Records
| Publication year | 1988 |
| Pages | 1323 |
| Citation | Vol. 07 No. 1988 Pg. 1323 |
1988, July, Pg. 1323. Consent to Treatment and Access to Minors' Medical Records
THE ISSUE: A fifteen-year-old minor seeks and receives mental health treatment. She is in the physical custody of the Department of Social Services, but her mother's parental rights have not been terminated. The attorney for the mother issues a subpoena for the daughter's medical records for the termination proceeding. Can the hospital medical records custodian release the records pursuant to subpoena? Is consent necessary? If so, whose---the mother's, daughter's or Social Services?
This article attempts to answer these and other questions. It compiles state and pertinent federal statutes which govern consent to medical treatment and release of minors' medical records in Colorado. It also discusses release of medical records without the patient's consent and in the context of civil litigation or criminal investigations.
A person of full legal age in Colorado is eighteen years or older. Such a person is considered to be able to make decisions regarding medical treatment for his or her own body and that of his or her children, whether natural or adopted.(fn1)
The Colorado legislature has created numerous exceptions to this general rule of majority age of consent: an emancipated minor,(fn2) a lawfully married minor or a minor parent of a minor child.(fn3) Other minors may consent to specific types of treatment which are listed below. In some of these situations, the health care provider has statutory immunity from suit for treatment of the minor without parental consent. At the same time, parents are not held financially responsible for this treatment unless they so agree.(fn4)
Minors can consent to their own treatment for the following types of medical problems:
1. Medical care and treatment for use of or addiction to drugs.(fn5)
2. Alcoholism (or intoxication or incapacity due to alcohol).(fn6)
3. Venereal disease.(fn7) The fact of diagnosis may be disclosed by the physician to the spouse, financé if known, parent, legal guardian or person with custody of the minor.
4. AIDS or HIV testing.(fn8) If the minor is under the age of sixteen or not emancipated, the facility or physician may disclose the fact of consultation or treatment to the parent or legal guardian.
5. Birth control or family planning, including abortion.(fn9)
6. Sexual assault.(fn10) Prior to an examination or treatment, the physician must make reasonable efforts to notify the parent or legal guardian. If the person so notified refuses to consent to treatment, the physician must report the refusal as medical neglect under the child abuse reporting laws.(fn11) If the minor is unable to give his or her own consent due to age or mental or physical condition, the physician should not treat the minor, but should make a report under the child abuse reporting laws.
7. Mental health services.(fn12) A minor of fifteen years of age or older may seek mental health services. An independent evaluation is required prior to hospitalization to determine whether admission is appropriate and is the least restrictive form of treatment. Since minors have a statutory ability to seek treatment for these conditions on their own, it is possible that parents may not limit a child's access in "teen clinics" which are being established in Colorado.
Colorado law states that certain procedures may not be consented to by minors under the age of eighteen:
1) Organ transplants or donation of blood;
2) Permanent sterilization;
3) Execution of a living will for termination of life support; and
4) Electroconvulsive treatment: may be performed on a minor sixteen years or older, but only with approval of two psychiatrists and a parent or guardian.(fn13)
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