GUIDANCE FOR TEENS 2
Anticipatory Guidance for Teens
Introduction
The Federal Law establishes 12 as the age perceived to be the minimum age of consent in
as far as matters relating to health are concerned. Any child of above 12 years in the United
States of America is at a pole position to make decisions favorable to his or her health conditions
according what qualified medical practitioners advice. Such a child has the liberty to give
consent to his treatment or evaluation. In this case however, a mother of a sixteen-year-old
teenager declines to leave the room and grant privacy to a physician to conduct a well check on
this teenager. This text is a description of what to do in such an event, for anybody in his
capacity as a health provider.
As a provider, the first step would be to call the mother to a private discussion about this
issue, outlining to her the provisions of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) of 1996 in regards to the issue of the doctor-patient confidentiality (Wong, 2015). The
Act prohibits doctors and other medical practitioners from disclosing the private information of
health records of a patient by a doctor to anybody whatsoever, without the consent of the patient.
The mother needs to understand that her sixteen-year old is above the age to be considered as a
minor, and thus should be granted privacy to interact with the doctor comfortably.
Also, I would request the mother to read the HIPAA Act in full in order to understand the
extent of her breach of the Act, to make it clear to her and bring it to her understanding that she
in violation of the Act. In an event that she declines to heed to this advice, it would be prudent to
take necessary security preventive measures, though it is highly doubtful that it would reach to
this level (Wong, 2015).
