Health confidentiality lost

Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identity of the sources.

Helen's pen paused on its way across the paper. "Phone number?" the sophomore muttered last fall as she filled out a form in the doctor's office. Helen was at Planned Parenthood; she did not want her parents to know.

But Planned Parenthood's strict confidentiality policy allayed Helen's fears. "Give a number where we can contact you specifically," she remembers reading as she settled more comfortably into the waiting room chair. She now receives birth control from Planned Parenthood free of charge- and free of concern that her parents will find out.

However, on Aug 14 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published modifications to the Privacy Rule that will allow health care officials to eliminate confidentiality of health care in states without conflicting health care laws, according to an August article published by the Center for Reproductive Rights. Health officials may release adolescents' information beginning Apr 14.

Maryland is one of 28 states that require parental involvement when a teen attempts to obtain an abortion. Maryland adolescents can, however, receive STD testing without parental permission. The modifications to the Privacy Rule will make it easier for Maryland parents to access their children's health care files.

According to a Silver Chips poll of 100 Blazers on Mar 26, 79 percent of students would be deterred from seeking health care if they believed that their parents could find out.

Advocates of the changes to the Privacy Rule believe that parents can better guide their children's sexual behavior if they have freer access to their children's health records, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.

1998 Senatorial candidate John Pinkerton (D-CA) believes that parents have the right to know about any significant activity in their teens' lives, and that health care confidentiality threatens parents' rights. "Parents must give consent before their child can have her ears pierced or a tattoo put on. In fact, in public schools and emergency rooms, parents must give consent before their child can be treated with so much as an aspirin," Pinkerton states. "Most voters agree that it is outrageous to allow a child to undergo any surgical procedure, let alone an invasive, irreversible procedure such as an abortion, without parental notification."

A 1994 poll conducted by Family Planning Perspectives revealed that 14 percent of minors who attain abortions believe that if forced to tell their parents, they would face physical abuse. According to the same poll, 11 percent would fear violence between their mother and father.

Freshman Angel Martin says the new legislation will deter adolescents from receiving health care that should be the business of teens, not their parents.

Helen agrees. "It's incredibly stupid for the government to think that teens will just magically stop doing sexually active things if they make it harder for us to get health care," she says.

Health teacher Robert Porac, in his first year at Blair, has seen a handful of students come to him requesting information about where they can receive confidential health care. He believes that his students would not feel comfortable obtaining STD testing, contraception and other medical attention related to sexual activity if parents had ready access to their health files. "That legislation will really affect how teens deal with the pressures of getting tested," says Porac. "I'm a big supporter of keeping health care confidential."

Jennifer McCleery of Planned Parenthood believes that many adolescents would not request the treatment that they need if they felt that their confidentiality was threatened. "They just wouldn't come," she says.
McCleery adds that Planned Parenthood is "really in tune with protecting confidentiality," but that it encourages teens to communicate with their parents.

In the face of legislation that has eliminated confidentiality on the national level, Porac and students are speaking out for the importance of teen rights in health care. "Your parents don't have to know," says Porac. "It's your business. It's a personal thing."