Posted: April 15th, 2022

Parent’s Right to View a Minor’s Mental Health Record

Parent’s Right to View a Minor’s Mental Health Record
Topic:
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Topic :What is a parent’s right to view a minor’s mental health record in the state of (TEXAS)? Explain how the right may change if the parent is divorced, separated, or never married.
Parent’s Right to View a Minor’s Mental Health Record
Parents have the right to request and have their child’s mental health treatment record in terms of treatment plan, symptoms and diagnosis. The right to confidentiality is a vital aspect in the course of treatment but in the case of children below the age of 18, they have no right to privacy regarding their mental health. The confidentiality of a minor’s mental health is considered important for different reasons such as enhanced treatment cooperation, enhancing effective treatment, protecting the child from homelessness, protecting the child from third parties and improving the parent-child relationship. However, the right to the confidentiality of the minor’s health record and treatment is lifted when it comes to their parents in the interest of the child recovery and treatment process. Equally important, the child’s right to privacy treatment is a vital aspect that must be treated with caution and has to be safeguarded and such information has to be on safe hands at all times. In this regard, the child the parent’s right to information is regulated such as in the level of information that is exposed to ensure that anything regarding the child’s mental information and records is done in the interest of the child. The confidentiality on the information or record of a mental health patient is head high as they have the right to privacy, however, the same confidentiality needs to be relaxed in the case of a minor patient such that the in the interest of the child such that the treatment process is held and carried efficiently and effectively.
Parent’s right to view a minor’s mental health record
Parent’s right to view their child’s mental health record and information are vital as it comes with various benefits and capabilities in the interest of the child’s mental health progress. The parents’ access to confidential information is a vital aspect as it bestows the parent in the position of a personal representative of the child. In this regard, the parents can make decisions and ask questions in the interest of the child thus ensuring that the right and effective treatment is given to their child (Isaac and Stone, 2001). It is vital to note that the right to privacy in treatment is directly connected to the right to consent to treatment. However, the minor cannot be in a position to legally make consent to treatment issues. In such cases, their parents make such legal consent on behalf of the child to ensure that their treatments and decisions are done in the interest of child health. Therefore, the parents have a right to access and have the child’s mental health records and discuss with the medical practitioners on the child’s confidential medical information to ensure that the parent can make decisions and consent on behalf of their child.
The act of withholding child confidentiality and revealing their mental health records to their parents is a vital aspect that places a balancing of rights and interests to ensure that clinical tasks are implemented effectively (Katner, 2003). The balancing of the right and the interest of the child in revealing their mind is a complex aspect that brings in matters of right to privacy, confidentiality, and ethics. On the other hand, the issue will ensure that revealing the confidentiality will ensure the parent to act in the best interest of their child and ensure they are clinically attended. In this regard, to guard the rights and interest of the child different questions that include the person making interest, legal rights of the parent making the request, if the parent has signed a voluntary confidentiality agreement, if the psychotherapy file is maintained separately from other financial records, the child position in regard release of information, the legitimate concerns to be considered in releasing of the information and that there are not issues of neglect or abuse on the child’s side. Considering all the factors ensures that the child’s rights are upheld and their interest in the treatment and revealing of information is prioritized.
The revealing of confidential information to the parent of a minor suffering from mental illness enables the cooperation between the physician and the parent in the interest of the child’s treatment. Effective mental therapy is achieved when the patient can disclose behaviors, experiences, feelings, and thoughts of the patient without judgment (Katner, 2003). The effective revealing of such information will be effective when the parent can make their contribution when they are effectively involved in all the processes and stages and thus they know the important information and observations to reveal. The minor’s mental health patient may not be in a position to effectively share their experiences and information but their parents will share such observations as they can observe and they know the importance of such information concerning treatment. Therefore, the revealing of a minor`s mental health confidential information develop a strong therapeutic alliance between the parents and the physician.
The disclosing of the mental health records of a minor is a vital aspect in the treatment process especially if the patient is incapacitated. The HIPAA Privacy Rules requires that the health care provider can disclose the mental patient health record and information to the relevant parties if the patient is not present or is not in a position to agree or object as a result of incapacity (Muroff et al., 2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers). Additionally, the patient’s confidential information can be revealed in the cases of emergency and such information has required the care to be given and the payment to be made in the interest of the patient. In most cases, the minor patients are incapacitated and therefore cannot make any decision that requires their consent. In this case, the parents need to have all the information relating to the patient to ensure that they make the right and appropriate decisions in the interest of their child. Additionally, the fact that the parents have the information concerning the minor patient ensures that they can seek help from different places and plan for the payment and financial needs regarding the treatment process. Therefore, disclosing the mental health information of a minor plays a vital role in decision making for an incapacitated patient.
The mental health information and records of a child need to be effectively disclosed to the parent and other relevant parties to ensure that they can effectively take care of the patient in cases of emergency or if they behave irregularly. The mental health minors can behave irregularly such as being violent and abusive to others (Koocher, 2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers). These behaviors put the lives of other people at risk of being hurt and thus parents and other relevant parties need to be privy to the mental health of a minor to take relevant precautionary measures and ensure that they can effectively handle any irregular behavior arising from the mental health patient. More so, the health condition of a minor can make them hurt themselves and should be protected from such tendencies. Therefore, the mental health of information in the case that a patient is a threat to others should not just be disclosed to the parent but also the family members, law enforcement agencies and other related parties. The disclose of such information ensures people around the minor suffering from mental health can take precautionary measures to protect themselves and the patient from being hurt and hurting themselves respectively.
The fact that the minor mental health record can be disclosed to their parent ensures that the parent can cooperate with the educational institution attended by their child. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the school needs to have every student`s health information. This fact ensures that the student can be effectively helped and understood by their institutions in case of emergencies and irregular behaviors due to their conditions (Riley et al., 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). The HIPAA Privacy Rule may reduce the disclosure of the patient’s health record as there are restrictions to the disclosure of confidential information as compared to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act that application has few or fewer barriers. However, in some circumstances, the HIPAA Privacy Rule enables the health practitioner to disclose the health records of a patient in the case that they can be a threat to themselves and others. In this case, the parent has a mental health record of their child will effectively cooperate with their schooling institutions to ensure that they are given the appropriate care in the course of their learning.
What is a parent’s right to view a minor’s mental health record in the state of (TEXAS)?
The federal and state law, statutory interpretations by the court, professional ethics have great concern and priority of the confidentiality of health information of any party such as a minor to a parent. Under Texas state law, the right to privacy in treatment is directly related to the right to consent to treatment (Tilly, 2005). This means that the revealing of medical health confidential information to a third party can only be done through the consent of a patient. However, the child cannot be able to give legal consent to their treatment thus the Texas state laws allow the parent to act as a personal representative and consent on various issues on behave and interest of their child. This means that all confidential mental health information concerning the child must be revealed to the parent to ensure they can consent favorably to the treatment of the child.
Under the Texas state law, the parent can make a request of the child medical record in terms of treatment plan, symptoms and diagnosis. However, it is vital to note that the parent has no right to receive treatment notes from the physician as they are personal information for the medical professionals to make a diagnosis (Tilly, 2005). The treatment notes can only be acquired through a court order. The psychotherapy notes are taken by the professionals to record and analyze the conversation and information between the patient and the professionals thus they are considered personal as opposed to the official documentation.
The HIPAA is a federal law governing and regulating medical privacy. The law protects the minor from disclosures of their mental health to other parties that are not their parents. Health providers and therapists are forbidden from disclosing health information (Tilly, 2005). Additionally, the right to receive and share confidential health information concerning their child is further regulated under the Texas State Laws. In this case the parent cannot receive the mental health information record of their child if the sign an agreement to respect the confidentiality shared between the health care provider and the minor, when the parent loses parental rights, when a court order prevents a parent from accessing the child and when the child becomes legally emancipated.
Revealing mental health information of a child to the parent is a vital aspect that ensures that the parent can seek alternative ways of helping their children in recovering from their condition. The parent can subject their child to an alternative way such as counseling sessions and therapy that ensure that they can lead a normal and productive life despite the health condition (Tilly, 2005). In this case, guidance, counseling, and therapy ensure that a child is in a position to counter challenges that they experience in their day to day activities. Additionally, the parent gets extra information on the care they can administer to their child to ensure that they supplement their condition. The mental health records ensure the parent to evaluate and access the health condition of their child the progress of the child. This fact enables the parent to evaluate if the treatment steps taken toward recovery are effective or not based on the success experienced. Therefore, access to mental health records information of a minor by their parent as the parent uses such information to better the lives of their child.
Explain how the right may change if the parent is divorced, separated, or never married.
The right to receive mental health records of a child by a parent ceases to exist in the event of a divorce, separation or if one was never married. The right to the mental health information of a child lies in the parent’s immediate parent who is the caregiver and has the best interest of the child (Tilly, 2005). In the case, of a divorce, an attorney or a lawyer can be appointed and take the position of the guardian ad litem to represent the best interest of the child as far as the mental health process is concerned. Consequently, in the case of a separation, the parent taking care can receive mental health records as they do not lose parental rights. Additionally, in the case of a couple that has a child but never married the parent with the custody of the child will have the parental rights and thus the right to receive the mental health records of their child.
Conclusion
The medical information health of a patient and especially that of a minor are held with caution and priority on the interest of the child. The mental health records of a minor are only revealed to the parent in levels and great caution to ensure that a child is protected and safeguarded. The parent is only given the minor’s mental health records to enable them to act in the best interest of the child such as making critical decisions. The child’s mental confidential information is vital as it increases cooperation in treatment, enhancing effective treatment, protects the child from abuse and homelessness, improves the parent-child relationship and protects the child from third parties. Therefore, any person that is given the confidential mental health record concerning a minor must use it in the best interest of the minor. Equally important, the revealing of a minor mental health to their parent is a vital aspect due to various benefits that are associated with it such as the parent is able to follow up and make the right decision regard to the treatment process, it enhances the balancing of rights and interest of the child, enhances the cooperation between the parent and the medical practitioner, ensures the parent can make decisions if the minor is incapacitated, it enables the parent and people in the surrounding to give such a child the relevant care in case of emergency or the child behaves irregularly and enables the parent to cooperate with the child’s learning institution to ensure that the life of the child is smooth and effective in the course of learning. Equally important, the state of Texas regulates the treatment privacy of a child by safeguarding the confidential health record and ensuring that they can only be addressed by the appropriate parties. The safeguarding and revealing of the mental health records by the state and relevant medical practitioners such that such information is available to the parent is done in the interest of the child to ensure they are protected while at the same time appropriate medical treatment is administered.

Reference
Isaacs, M. L., & Stone, C. (2001). Confidentiality with minors: Mental health counselors’ attitudes toward breaching or preserving confidentiality. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 23(4), 342.
Katner, D. R. (2003). Confidentiality and Juvenile Mental Health Records in Dependency Proceedings. Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J., 12, 511.
Koocher, G. P. (2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers). Ethical challenges in mental health services to children and families. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(5), 601-612.
Muroff, J., Edelsohn, G. A., Joe, S., & Ford, B. C. (2008 – Affordable Custom Essay Writing Service | Write My Essay from Pro Writers). The role of race in diagnostic and disposition decision making in a pediatric psychiatric emergency service. General Hospital Psychiatry, 30(3), 269-276.
Riley, M., Ahmed, S., Reed, B. D., & Quint, E. H. (2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). Physician knowledge and attitudes around confidential care for minor patients. Journal of pediatric and adolescent gynecology, 28(4), 234-239.
Tilly, D. (2005). Confidentiality of Adoption Records in Texas: A Good Case for Defining Good Cause. Baylor L. Rev., 57, 531.

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