HB560

Paper records should be available. The portal for online records has been notoriously faulty and parents have the right to full medical records until the child is an adult. The state does not want to put itself in the position of being responsible for what are the parents rights and responsibilities. Thank you for your time.

When my son William nearly died of a complex disease, no one helped us. I kept a notebook daily logging the calls and new avenues I would pursue. Many hours and missed calls while caring for 3 others snd working. No other support. Many are like me. To properly advocate we need medical records easily available and easier communication. This was life or death for my son. God saved him but it nearly killed me to get the help he needed.

As a parent with two children with chronic diseases, I found Dartmouth Hitchcock letter to me and my child stating that I no longer could have access to my child's medical records was offensive. My children saw multiple doctors with DHMC, and not one of them could explain the change in the policy. In the beginning, it was when a child turned 15, but then it quickly changed to age 12. Do you have a child with a rare or chronic medical condition? When you are looking to communicate with the doctor, when you child is suffering, you don't want to ask your child what their username and login password is. In my family we don't keep secrets from each other. With DHMC policy, they are suggesting that my children keep secrets from me and to just share information with them. That is dangerous for any parent with a sick child and is especially dangerous for a parent of a chronically ill child. I will tell you, the last thing my children wanted to do, was to contact the doctor themselves when they were not feeling well. Besides being unwell and scared, they often did not have the energy or the mental capacity to express what symptoms they were experiencing. Stop trying to usurp and take over the responsibilities of a parent. No one will care for a child like a parent will, not even a doctor!

This bill seeks to require that parents retain access to their children's full medical records, including portal access, until the age of 18. I support this and ask that you do too. I do object to section (c) listed below: (c) When a health care provider has determined by clear and convincing evidence based upon articulable facts that disclosure of the records to a parent or legal guardian of a minor child is likely to result in abuse or neglect. A health care provider who makes this determination shall document in the medical record of the minor child all facts upon which he or she relied in making the determination. Only a judge may remove a parent's rights after due process. Health care providers do not and should not have this ability. They are mandatory reporters and if they at all suspect abuse for any reason, they should report the parent.

It is insane to require children to be 18 to vote and 21 to drink and then allow them to make major decision about their health at 12 by removing mature parents who are entrusted with their care from this decision.. It is time to have common sense. Please exercise this as you vote.

I have three children with special medical needs, but that doesn’t mean that they are extraordinary. They are normal kids who each face their own issues with simple conditions like one with asthma, and another with migraines, but who are still _children_. When discussing migraine medications with my adolescent daughter, the physician spend an inordinate amount of time telling her that she must be aware of the increased risk of stroke when this medication is combined with estrogen. She spent so much time addressing that concept to my daughter, that my daughter later had to ask me what the doctor was trying to get across. Here was my response to her, and the NUMBER ONE of my drivers for supporting this bill: “The doctor doesn’t know if you are getting hormone treatments from another provider because there are organizations that can give you that without parental consent. Although I am your parent, I do not have access to your prescription records at the pharmacy because they want to protect you from me knowing if you are taking hormones. The doctor is trying to get you to recognize and make the connection that IF you are taking hormones that neither of us know about, ONLY YOU (my adolescent daughter who can’t even drive a car yet) would be able to identify the dangerous situation that you were putting yourself into. The restriction on my access to your medical records puts you in a life-threatening situation because the responsibility for recognizing interactions is now on you.” The ‘protections’ for a small amount of children that prevent their parents from knowing about hormonal treatments (or other interventions) are PREVENTING the vast majority of parents from providing the proper care and protections for their children. When I log into the health care portal for my family, I cannot read the after visit notes for my children. I cannot access doctor’s instructions or the schedule of dosages if we are changing prescriptions. I can sit in the appointment, talk to the doctor, watch the doctor type them in, but once we leave the office, I can no longer access that information. Thus, if we are three weeks in on a medication adjustment and I’ve forgotten the schedule, I cannot readily access that information. Currently, if I want to REGAIN the access that I had when my children were younger, I must fill out a form and discuss this access with my child and their doctor, who then gets to talk to my child about the form in my absence (and I believe we have to revisit this discuss each year). Parents are the people who are responsible for the care of our children. We care for them and endeavor to help them grow to be strong and healthy adults. Cutting off our ability to care for their health and help them make decisions about their health by inserting a wedge, or arbiter (the doctor) is an absurd violation of the necessary connection between parents and their adolescent children. I strongly encourage you to restore the rights of parents to do their jobs: PARENT. Destroy this immoral barrier that is obstructing parents from fulfilling their obligations in raising their children to becoming healthy adults.

Parents should retain access to their children's full medical records, including portal access, until the age of 18. I do object to section (c) listed below: (c) When a health care provider has determined by clear and convincing evidence based upon articulable facts that disclosure of the records to a parent or legal guardian of a minor child is likely to result in abuse or neglect. A health care provider who makes this determination shall document in the medical record of the minor child all facts upon which he or she relied in making the determination. Only a judge may remove a parent's rights after due process. Health care providers do not and should not have this ability. They are mandatory reporters and if they at all suspect abuse for any reason, they should report the parent.

A parent absolutely should have the right to their child’s medical records. It’s outrageous this bill is even needed.

Do children belong to their parents, or to the state? Are we the Soviet Union? May we never surrender our children to a Soviet-style state! I urge you to support HB560, reasserting the rights of parents to retain access to their own children's medical records. I would also urge an update to section (c), since it's a giant loophole. Only a judge may remove a parent’s rights after due process. Health care providers do not and should not have this ability. They are mandatory reporters and if they at all suspect abuse for any reason, they should report the parent.

I firmly believe that parents of minor children should have full access to their minor children’s medical records except under certain circumstances.

Hello, Thank you for your service in the House and for hearing our family’s testimony in support of HB 560–but with the caveat that section (c) be removed. - That is, I support this bill, as parents should have access to all of their children’s medical information, while those children are under the age of 18. Children under the age of 18 are still legally children, and parents are still both responsible for said children and liable for said children. Thus, parents need full access to their children’s medical records and information, in order for parents to be rightly equipped to provide full medical support and advocacy for their children. - However, I object to section (c) as written below: —————- “(c) When a health care provider has determined by clear and convincing evidence based upon articulable facts that disclosure of the records to a parent or legal guardian of a minor child is likely to result in abuse or neglect. A health care provider who makes this determination shall document in the medical record of the minor child all facts upon which he or she relied in making the determination.” —————- Only a judge may remove a parent's rights, and after due process. Health care providers do not, and should not, have this ability. They are mandatory reporters, and if health providers suspect abuse for any reason, then the health providers should report the parents to the proper authorities. That said, I respectfully request that you pass HB 560–after the removal of section (c). Thank you, Angel Brisson

I object to section C. Only a judge may remove a parents rights after due process. Healthcare providers are reporters only. Thank you

As a mother of three young children, I should have access to their medical record until they are 18. I work in healthcare and it is very confusing, even for adults, to interpret tests and navigate the healthcare system. Parients have the right to be able to assist their children with something as important as their medical care.

I support a parents right to maintain access to their child’s full medical record up to age 18.

I generally support this bill except for this one section: I do object to section (c) listed below: (c) When a health care provider has determined by clear and convincing evidence based upon articulable facts that disclosure of the records to a parent or legal guardian of a minor child is likely to result in abuse or neglect. A health care provider who makes this determination shall document in the medical record of the minor child all facts upon which he or she relied in making the determination. Only a judge may remove a parent's rights after due process. Health care providers do not and should not have this ability. They are mandatory reporters and if they at all suspect abuse for any reason, they should report the parent.

Please SUPPORT HB 560 and uphold parental rights. Health care providers should not have the ability to usurp the rights of parents. Thanks so much

Dear Representatives ~ It's hard to believe that this bill should even have to exist. It is pure common sense that a child's health is of paramount importance to his/her parents. It is the parents who have the highest vested interest in caring for their children on every level. To limit the parents' knowledge of their child's medical situation is not only unconscionable, but could be dangerous to that child's well-being. Creating such a wall between parents & children is the stuff of communist/fascist regimes like Mao & Stalin, with disastrous results to individuals, families & their entire societies. We, in the US & specifically in New Hampshire, do not want to be ignorant of history & fall prey ideologies that lead to such shattering actions. If you are parents, you know that YOU want to be (and should be) the one to care for your children & do not want random people with possibly negative agendas overseeing your child's medical situation without your involvement. Please, for the sake of children, family, common sense & society, pass this bill. Thank you.

As a parent and an attorney I have to object to section (c) which purports to give healthcare practitioners the power to strip parents of the rights guaranteed under this bill. No one should individually have that power; that is why our Constitution protects Due Process rights and provides for procedures under which rights may be abridged. This process is best handled by Courts, not healthcare practitioners. Please strike this section from the Bill: (c) When a health care provider has determined by clear and convincing evidence based upon articulable facts that disclosure of the records to a parent or legal guardian of a minor child is likely to result in abuse or neglect. A health care provider who makes this determination shall document in the medical record of the minor child all facts upon which he or she relied in making the determination.

This is a common sense parents rights bill that NH needs to pass - parents are the one and only caregivers, our rights given by God, and this needs to shine brightly to our watching country. To cut out parents is a huge mis-service to children. Thank you.

Please support HB560, which will require that parents retain access to their children's full medical records, including portal access, until the age of 18. It is a good bill except for section (c), which would give health care providers the ability to withhold information about a child from a legal parent or guardian. Only a judge should have the ability to remove a parent's rights after due process. Health care providers do not and should not have that ability. They are mandatory reporters and if they at all suspect abuse for any reason, they should report the parent.

We as parents have the rights to know what is going on with our children so that we can better support them.