Medical Neglect Defined
Parents are obligated to provide adequate care to their children in order to keep them physically and emotionally healthy. Parents are expected to provide adequate medical care to children in the same way they’re expected to provide basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. Failure to provide necessary medical care can be considered to be neglect. However, it should be understood that parents generally have a lot of say in the care and upbringing of their children—and this is especially relevant when it comes to deciding what medical care your child will receive. For example, most experts believe that children should go to the dentist every six months. However, not all children go to the dentist every six months, and some do not go at all. Assuming the child has no dental complaints, it would be extremely unlikely for the state to get involved with the parents’ decision not to take the child to the dentist. Due to the enormity of a parent’s rights, medical neglect almost exclusively refers to situations where the children are not receiving necessary medical attention. This is a larger issue when the child has been physically harmed by the lack of medical attention. For instance, if the child has an abscessed tooth and the parents refuse to take the child to the dentist to obtain treatment, the state may get involved then. Generally, the state will not get involved with preventative care but, if there’s an active need for care, refusal to provide such care may constitute medical neglect.
Gender Affirmation Care
Gender affirmation care for those who are under 18 is an incredibly controversial issue that our current laws have not caught up with. Furthermore, the laws and regulations vary dramatically from state to state: some states seem to expect parents to provide certain treatments, while other states have restricted parents’ ability to provide gender affirmation care. If this is relevant to your situation, you should know that your ability to provide or withhold treatment will likely depend on where you live and what the facts of your specific case are. You may need to go to court if you and your ex cannot come to an agreement on which treatments your child will receive. As previously mentioned, our current laws are not equipped to make decisions on such matters. Therefore, it may be difficult to predict what the outcome of your case will be if taken to court.
Vaccines
The issue of vaccines is a little bit more straightforward as opposed to more polarizing matters such as gender affirmation care for minors. Refusing to vaccinate your children may constitute medical neglect in some situations. Since parents generally have the right to raise their children as they see fit, they can typically decide whether to vaccinate the children. For the most part, this is only an issue in situations where both parties have legal custody. However, there could be some cases where it is considered to be medically necessary for a child to be vaccinated. For example, if you have a child with an autoimmune disease and there’s a rubella outbreak in your location, refusing to provide your child with the vaccine may constitute medical neglect. If you and your ex cannot decide on whether or not the children will be vaccinated, you may need to have the court decide whether the child will receive the vaccine. If it’s highly likely that the child will be exposed to the disease and highly likely that the disease will significantly harm the child, the court will be more likely to order that the child receives the vaccine.
Mental Health Care
Parents’ obligation to provide medical care to their children does extend to mental health care. However, whether or not the mental health care is necessary will depend on the situation. This is typically relevant in situations where one parent is pro-therapy, and the other parent is against therapy. A court can compel parents to provide mental health care to the children if the court considers mental health care to be necessary and within the child’s best interests. Generally speaking, the more severe and extreme a child’s symptoms are, the more likely it is that the court will compel the parents to provide the child with mental health care. Typically, this is only seen in cases where the parents cannot agree on what care, if any at all, the child will receive.
Religious Convictions
Sometimes religions discourage the use of anesthesia, vaccinations, and blood transfusions. However, there are also cases where anesthesia, vaccinations, and/or blood transfusions are necessary. If your child needs medical care but the other parent is opposed to it, what do you do? Again, the outcome will depend heavily on the facts of your situation and the laws in your state. The court will likely place heavy consideration the necessity of the procedure: for example, if your child needs a life-saving operation that require anesthetic, the court can—and likely will—compel the parents to provide the procedure, even though the use of anesthesia goes against a parent’s conviction. Regardless of religious beliefs, parents almost certainly cannot withhold life-saving medical care.
When You Need Legal Advice
If you and your spouse are not able to come to an agreement on what medical care your child will receive, CoilLaw is here for you. Our lawyers have tons of experience in custody battles, family law matters, and more. If you need an attorney who’s got the experience to get you the best outcome possible, contact CoilLaw today and get started on your initial consultation.