By Will Hackbarth & Ella Colbert
Focus
Midland HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Informative Feature
If one of Dr. Naheed Rizvi’s teenage patients ever needs someone to talk to or pick them up, she’ll do it. No questions asked. Unless the teen has done something to seriously harm themselves or another individual, Rizvi is legally obligated not to notify their parents, regardless of what they needed.
“If there is ever a situation where a teen feels they cannot discuss anything with their parent or they’re in a situation [where] it’s ten o’clock at night and they can’t call their parent, they should always call me,” Rizvi said. “I tell them,
‘Call the office, I’ll come and pick you up [and] make sure that you’re safe.”
This confidentiality between doctor and patient is due to HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Because of HIPAA, if a minor does not wish for their parents to know something about their sexual activity, their doctor must keep the information private. This includes the use of birth control pills or the contracting of a sexually transmitted disease.
However, if the teen fills a prescription for birth control pills or receives treatment for an STD through their parent’s insurance providers, the information will be sent to their parents on their insurance statement.
“I encourage teens to share it with their parents,” Rizvi said. “However, if there are financial circumstances or circumstances in which the teen is scared of their parent finding out, we refer them to the Department of Health where they can get birth control pills and the parents don’t know. We want to make sure that the patient gets all that they need.”
Rizvi and many of her colleagues’ philosophy is that teenagers should know all their options regarding sex. Though she understands that parents often hope their children will stay away from sex, she believes it is important that kids are still educated on the subject.
“I always tell them about all their options,” Rizvi said. “Abstinence is golden, but it’s also impossible.”
Since drug stores always run purchases through insurance, the only way for teenagers to get these prescriptions without their parents knowing is through the Midland County Department of Health. Mary Macinnes, a director at the Department of Health, says they have any type of contraception, including male and female condoms and all hormonal types of birth control, available to anybody who asks for them.
Workers at the Department of Health are also bound by the standards of HIPAA, meaning they cannot inform teenagers’ parents or any one else of the services they have requested, unless the teen is in need of more involved medical treatment or they need to report abuse to the authorities.
“I get occasional complaints from parents about our providing services to their children without their knowledge, but usually I just have to explain that legally I’m not allowed to notify them,” Macinnes said. “There are teens in our community whose parents might hurt them if they found out they’d been to our clinic or that they were sexually active.”
Alternatively, junior Madelyn Groulx said that parents will usually have their kid’s best interests at heart, and so should be informed if their child has a sexually transmitted disease. She said parents will be able to provide valuable guidance if they are informed.
In Rizvi’s experience, although parents are usually disappointed, they understand and try to help their child.
“As soon at the child’s health is at harm, the parents should be notified, no matter how messy it may get,” Groulx said. “Regardless of how mad or disappointed the parents will be, they care and love their child. They deserve to know,
so together the parents and child can take steps to handle the situation.”
When anyone under the age of 17 goes to the Department of Health, they fill out paperwork that denotes whether or not their parents are aware of them seeking services. If the parents are unaware, the clinic bases the cost of treatment solely on the teenager’s income, which is usually low enough to allow them free services. Macinnes believes that these aspects of the Department of Health are beneficial to the community. “There are quite a few teens who need our services or other medical care we offer who wouldn’t come to us or be honest about their behavior if we had to inform their parents – which might be dangerous for them,” Maccines said. “One of the biggest benefits of what we do is that teens can get accurate, non-judgmental information from us about birth control, STDs and sexuality which helps them make informed decisions about the way they want to live their lives. They can ask us things they don’t feel comfortable asking anyone else.”
Groulx agrees with Macinnes that the Health Department’s services are beneficial to the community. She also believes that they would not be as effective if they had to inform
teenagers’ parents.
“If a student is having sex, and they come for help, at least they are taking some responsibility for their actions,” Groulx said. “If the Health Department started telling parents, I think that students would not ask for the protection, leading to a whole bunch of trouble.”
Contrarily, Eagle Ridge Church of God Pastor Bill Greiner believes that the best resource for teenagers to utilize is their parents. He says that because parents are held accountable for their child’s behavior when it comes to truant and physical issues, parents should also be held responsible for the sexual health of their child.
“Statistics show that parents are the number one influence of their kid,” Greiner said. “I don’t think you can make a good decision on behalf of your child if you don’t know what’s going on.”
Sue Barrons, a mother of four children who have attended Midland High, thinks that the Department of Health’s contraceptive services are a benefit, compared to doing nothing. However, she agrees with Greiner that they should notify the parent if the child has a sexually transmitted disease. She feels that if the parents are aware of their child’s affliction, they can provide guidance and help them find the best doctors to help them.
“I want to know what’s going on with my kid so I can make the choice [about] what’s good for them,” Barrons said. “I would go to the best professionals that would know a lot, [to make sure they’re getting the] right information and the best treatment that they can have.”
Greiner does agree with Rizvi that it is important for doctors to share all information regarding sex with teenagers, especially in conjunction with the parents, as it will be
more effective that way. But, he believes that informing teenagers of different contraceptive options is unnecessary and overrated due to extensive emphasis on the issue already. He feels that people are willing to inform teenagers of their options regarding contraceptives, but are more hesitant to share the consequences.
“I’m not about keeping information from kids,” Greiner said. “But when information is given separate from values, then it is of very little use and becomes extraordinarily
ineffective in helping students make decisions that are going to drastically affect their health. It potentially could risk their lives.”
Barrons thinks that doctors should tell teenagers everything about sex as well. She thinks doctors can help dismiss common misconceptions teenagers are told. “There’s so many rumors and made up stories about ‘You won’t get pregnant by this or that’, and it’s all false and kids believe that stuff,” Barrons said. “They should know [about sex].”
As a parent, Greiner believes the doctor should encourage teenagers to discuss sex with their parents, as well as help them figure out how to do so. He believes that teenagers can often be advised by health care professionals to make decisions, such as taking birth control, which they might not have thought about enough before.
Greiner does believe there is a certain point in which doctors should be obligated to inform parents of their child’s sex life, if it will harm them in any way. “If a doctor is going to do anything medical, from that point on, as a parent, they have to tell me,” Greiner said. “The risk is so high of having a real medical issue.”
Ultimately, both medical staff and parents want their kids to be comfortable and safe. Though there is disagreement about the methods, all involved parties want a blend of positive influences that will be best for the child.
“The hope is that every teen can feel comfortable to ask their parents . . . and share with their physician,” Rizvi said. “There is no question that should go unanswered.”