A proposed bill in the Ohio House of Representatives would give parents more control over their children’s medical records and change Ohio’s health care access rules, but a policy researcher warns of the potential harm of forcing minors to reveal psychological and other records, such as STD tests, that they would prefer to keep secret.
Introduced March 27, Ohio House Bill 463 is the latest law pushed by Republican state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, a lead sponsor of legislation that would roll back access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth in Ohio. The legislation was vetoed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine but overturned by a supermajority of Republican lawmakers and is set to take effect April 24.
Click’s latest legislation is called “My Child-My Chart Act”.
“When using an electronic health records system to maintain a minor’s patient record, the health care provider must ensure, to the full extent permitted by HIPAA privacy regulations and Ohio law, that the minor’s parent or guardian has access to the minor’s health records in that system.,” the bill states. “This includes, where necessary to provide parents or guardians with access to the greatest extent possible, maintaining the minor’s records in such a way as to separate records of care the minor received without the consent of the parent or guardian from care received with the consent of the parent or guardian.”
Another key quote from the bill reads as follows: “In addition, a health care provider may not require a minor’s parent or legal guardian to obtain the minor’s consent before the parent or legal guardian may access records in an electronic health records system relating to care the minor received with the minor’s parent or legal guardian’s consent.”
The Act also requires health care providers to annually inform parents and guardians of the circumstances in which a minor may receive medical care without their consent. Additionally, although medical records relating to procedures consented to without parental consent cannot be disclosed, the Act provides that health care providers must “provide the minor with the opportunity to provide general, ongoing written consent for the parent or guardian to access the minor’s medical records relating to care to which the minor patient may have consented or may consent in the future without parental or guardian consent” during the minor’s annual follow-up visit.
The circumstances in which a minor may consent to medical care in Ohio are restricted. Minors may give their consent Take an HIV test to diagnose AIDS or an AIDS-related condition; donate blood to a nonprofit volunteer program (if you are at least 17 years ancient); submit to an examination to collect physical evidence in an alleged sexual offense, such as rapeand other such procedures.
“Concerned parents have told me they have not been able to view their children’s medical records online without their child’s consent. I believe that is not true,” Click is quoted as saying in an unpublished press release. “The My-Child My-Chart Act would provide parents with greater medical transparency by requiring hosting services to segregate HIPAA-protected records until consent is obtained, meaning parents will no longer need their child’s consent to digitally access their unprotected files.”
House Bill 463 is not the only bill in the Ohio Statehouse giving parents more control over their children.
House Bill 8, sponsored by Republican state Reps. Sarah Carruthers and DJ Swearingen, requires school districts, “Before providing sexually explicit instruction, parents should be informed of any sexually explicit instructional materials,” and “Notify parents at the beginning of the school year about each health care service offered at their child’s school and the ability to withhold consent or decline a particular service,” adding “A parent’s consent to health care services does not waive the parent’s right to access the parent’s child’s educational or health care records or to receive notifications about changes in services or monitoring the student.”
The amendment to the bill, which has already passed the Ohio House of Representatives but not the Ohio Senate, would also force precincts to disclose to families that students are transgender, a move that advocates warn could potentially put such students at risk if their families are intolerant of their gender identity.
‘Parental Rights’ Movement Impacting Ohio
Expanding parental supervision has become an increasingly popular topic among GOP lawmakers in state legislatures across the country.
In Kentucky, House Bill 174, sponsored by Kentucky State Rep. Rebecca Raymer, among other things, states “A parent of a patient who is under the age of eighteen, or a legal representative of a patient on behalf of a patient who is under the age of eighteen, has the right to access the patient’s health information maintained by a health care provider in the medical record, unless prohibited by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or other federal or state law..”
In Arizona, House Bill 2139, sponsored by state Rep. Julie Willoughby, says that a minor’s medical records “are not covered by medical confidentiality and are not covered by medical confidentiality and may be disclosed to the parents or guardians of a minor patient, unless the minor patient notifies the physician… that the medical records of the minor patient are covered by medical confidentiality and may not be disclosed to the parents or guardians of the minor patient.”
In Wyoming, state representative Jeanette Ward proposed a bill which would remove the requirement to keep medical records confidential for children over 12 years of age.
Since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Protect Parental Rights in Education Act – also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” Act – to law in 2022laws expanding parental involvement in areas such as curriculum and health care have increased. According to FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, In 2023, 62 parental rights bills were filed in 24 statesand in 2022, 85 recent solutions were introduced in 26 states.
“Parents are required to consent to almost all medical procedures and visits in the state of Ohio, and they already have access to those documents,” Kathryn Poe explained. Budget and Health Researcher for Policy Matters Ohio. “Rep. Click’s bill is, in effect, an attempt to undermine the few cases in Ohio where a young person has the option to refrain from sharing information with their parents.”
Noting that there are only a few instances in Ohio where a minor can maintain medical privacy, Poe said that “those few circumstances include situations where there is a potential question of whether abuse has occurred, where the young person may have chosen to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases and may not want a parent to know about it.”
Poe also said that disclosing this data would allow parents to learn medical and psychological information that their children would prefer to keep private.
“It would also open up to parents the medical and psychological records that young people already have access to, which is just a sacred space where young people can express their feelings,” Poe said. “That doesn’t mean young people are hiding something from their parents. It just means they have legal protections that make them feel safe, and they should be able to feel safe.”
“I think there’s a really strong movement toward the idea that parents are, in some sense, the owners of their children,” Poe said. “I think it’s also deeply connected to this paranoia about gender, that parents and right-wing organizations are really pushing this narrative that kids are transitioning without them or accessing services without them, that they’re seeking reproductive health care without them. And we know for a fact that not only is that not necessarily true, but it’s also not legally possible.”
Ultimately, Poe believes that parenting bills harm children by negatively impacting their autonomy and relationships with their parents.
“I think it’s really damaging for a lot of young people to feel like their parents are constantly trying to interfere with them,” Poe said. “I think it’s also damaging to their development… kids need to be able to think through their own decisions, learn to make medical decisions and trust their parents, which will help them as they get older.”
