Where were Corrine and LaShanda’s parental rights?

Dear Legislator,

NC Values would like to bring your attention to a North Carolina law—N.C.G.S. 90-21.5(a)which violates medical parental rights and puts minors in danger.

North Carolina has the most liberal law in the country allowing minors of any age to keep certain medical records secret from parents and obtain diagnosis, treatment, and prevention without parental consent for mental health and life-altering conditions connected to their social behaviors.  For instance, if a child tests positive for drugs or pregnancy, unless the child consents, a parent doesn’t have the right to know about the test results or consent to treatment. If the child has AIDS or a STD, the parent doesn’t have the right to know about those test results. The high-risk medical conditions covered by the law are:

1. Pregnancy
2. Sexually transmitted infections
3. AIDS
4. Drugs and alcohol
5. Emotional disturbance (undefined)

This law gives minors the right to refuse testing and treatment even if their parents want it. For example, if a parent wants a child tested for drugs and the child refuses, the hospital or clinic cannot test the child. Because of this NC law giving minors, not parents, the right to consent, under federal privacy laws, parents have no right to see their child’s medical test results, their child’s medical records or drug records for these high-risk medical conditions without the child’s permission.  Also, parents do not have the right to consent to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these high-risk medical conditions.  It is extremely concerning that a minor can consent to his or her own diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of “emotional disturbance,” which is undefined and could be applied broadly to encompass all kinds of conditions.

Because of North Carolina General Statute 90-21.5(a), in 2007, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued a memorandum stating that minors, not their parents, have the right to decide if the minor can receive the Gardasil vaccine. Gardasil prevents a sexually transmitted infection.  There are currently 92 cases in federal court in North Carolina where parents are suing the manufacturer of the Gardasil vaccine, Merck, for injuries sustained from the vaccine.  Given the possibility that the Gardasil vaccine causes injuries, parents, not minors, should be the ones to consent to the injection.

Parents have the fundamental right to see their children’s medical records and to make decisions regarding medical treatment for their child.  NC Values has heard from parents around the state who have had their parental rights violated as a result of this law and want this law changed so they can protect and guide their children without the State’s interference. This should be a non-partisan issue, and changing this law is an important step to strengthen parental rights and further protect our children.

Please find below videos of two North Carolina parents who had their parental rights violated by this North Carolina law. These parents are willing to testify and speak to legislators upon request about their experiences. Please also read this opinion piece discussing this law and its implications.

We urge legislators to act during this 2024 session to restore parental rights to consent to physician-provided care for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all their child’s medical conditions. For questions about this law and issue please contact NC Values’ General Counsel Mary Summa at [email protected].

Corrine Ptak from Yancy County contacted NC Values about several experiences she had with this law.

“I was denied knowing the medical conditions of my children and procedures my child consented to including vaccinations and birth control implants. I was denied access to their medical records in a possible incident of rape, drug usage and STD diagnosis. I still have to pay medical bills for procedures that I knew about, while being left in the dark as to why.”