Question....anyone Have Any Idea???? Posted: 06-26-04 21:08pm
I was watching an episode of law and
order: svu and (like in most episodes) a
young girl was raped. One of the
detectives's wife told him about it, and
said she had heard it from her friend, a
nurse at a hospital. The detective of
course wanted to report it, but he wasn't
supposed to have known about it and he
coouldnt report it unless the girl decided
to press charges (or atleast come forward
with it). He went to talk to his wife's
nurse friend and she said he shouldn't
have known about it and that she couldnt
do anything unless the girl wanted to come
forward herself, because of patient-
doctor confidentiality laws. This got me
thinking because the girl was only 14 and
I thought that if the patient was under 18
doctors had to report it to parents,
police, etc because the child was a minor
and had been raped. Maybe I have it all
wrong, and I have no idead what i'm
talking about, but I really would like to
know so if anyone has any ideas about
this, please respond.
Merci beaucoup! --stephanie
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2ferano
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Dec 2003 Posts: 3717
Posted: 06-27-04 22:57pm
Hey, I saw that episode. Actually I
think that once a child hits a certain age
(although I am not sure what that age is)
the doctor doesn't have to tell the
parents if the child comes in on their
own.
Just like family planning. People under
18 can go there and they will not tell
your parents. You can get, paps, aids
tests, std tests, birth control, condoms,
etc, without parental consent. So, maybe
there is some kind of "law" included in
the doctor/patient confidentiality thing
that we don't know about!
