Parents Your Should be OutRaged!!!
Parents, You Should Be OutRaged!!!!!!
Parents Your Should be OutRaged!!!
Parents Your Should be OutRaged!!!
When the Sign Says “No Parents
Allowed”
August 6,
2014
permitted beyond this point!”Perhaps
this has happened to you. You walk into the doctor’s or the dentist’s office and
you find a sign like the one shown at right. “Parents: Due to new HIPAA and OSHA
regulations you are not
What
can you do? And what should you do?
For
many, the first response is disbelief, followed by anger. Maybe you’re
thinking, as a commenter on our Facebook post of this weekend did, “Whole lotta
NOPE going on right here!” But the best response is generally to talk with
the staff.
Some practices really do fail to respect the special role parents play in a
young patient’s life. But most professionals understand and appreciate what
parents bring to the table. (And as another commented, it is often not the
doctor but overreaching government that is pushing them to “police” you anyway.
The doctor may well be on your side!)
So
start with a practice you trust. If you are new to an area, ask around.
Go in and “interview” the office. Learn their reputation. Then, as one dental
professional suggested, go yourself before you take your child. Were you
comfortable enough with them when they cleaned your teeth to let them work on
your child as well? (Obviously this advice is of no use in the emergency room,
but great for the dentist or family doctor.)
You might assume, as many did when we posted this picture (and as we did ourselves)
that the dentist is claiming falsely that new HIPAA guidelines require them to
separate parent from child to protect the child’s privacy. What we learned from
the West Virginia dentist’s office where this picture was taken, however, was
that their office’s open floor plan forces them to balance parental rights
against the privacy of the person in the next bay over. Parents,
however, are always included in their child’s exam and all decision making.
When they saw how their sign was misunderstood, they quickly took it down, and
they have assured us that they respect the role of parents with their children.
In the case of Michigan mother Christy Duffy
two months ago, it took a public outcry to drive the hospital to back away from
its posted policy. In this current case, all it took was a conversation. (The
practice also received a good deal of heat from our post, but that proved to be
unnecessary.)
So talk to your doctor or dentist. If you see a sign like this one, ask them
about it. If it is truly their intention to stand between you and your
child, find a new doctor. If it is not, you might graciously suggest they fix
their sign. Either way, both your children and our cause will be served best by
a polite and civil discourse for as long as that is possible.
CRPD Update and August Recess
Now,
when discourse fails, we apply the massive pressure that only concerned parents
can bring. And that is just what we expect we will need to halt the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this fall.
We made it to August recess without a vote in the Senate, but your senators
need to hear from you now more than ever. The closer we get to the end of
the term in December, the harder treaty proponents will push for a vote
that could ultimately rob parents of their parental rights.
Action Items
So
please take a moment now to line up a visit to your senators’ offices
while they are home for August recess. You can find a step-by-step visit guide at
4pra.us/visit.
Then, secure your membership to ParentalRights.org. Your $50 annual donation will
give you access to Elite Member content, including this month’s package on
Internet Safety. As an added bonus (and in light of the uproar that today’s
sign has caused), we will also include last month’s package on Parental
Rights in the Medical Setting at no extra charge.
Finally, talk about parental rights. Talk to your friends and family,
your doctor and dentist, your child’s teachers and administrators, and anyone
else who will listen. The more your rights are known, the less likely they are
to be overridden by accident – and the less those who would do so on purpose
will be able to get away with it!
Sincerely
Michael Ramey
Dir. of Communications & Research
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks and be that "One Small Voice",
Proud National
Coordinator of the Family Survey Program
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