By Skylar Laird
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — Senators unanimously approved legislation requiring doctors in South Carolina to notify parents of medications prescribed to their children under the age of 16.
The bill, sent to the House on Thursday, Jan. 18, won support from the entire chamber with an amendment that addressed concerns raised during a hearing earlier this month, when doctors and pharmacists testified it could keep teens from getting the health care they need.
Changes proposed by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Michael Johnson, lowered the required notification age by two years — allowing teens with a driver’s license to drive themselves to the doctor and to the pharmacist to pick up their prescriptions — and exempted teens who may not have a parent to notify.
Specifically, it excludes children considered homeless under federal law, children in protective custody because their own family has abused or neglected them, and teen mothers who are themselves parents.
“The bill is simple: It guarantees parents the ability to view their child’s medical history and give consent for medication,” said Johnson, R-Tega Cay.
“My goal was to create a law that made it very clear to medical practitioners and doctors that it doesn’t matter what the law is in North Carolina or Georgia or wherever you’re from – parents should be able to know what medications their 12 or 13-year-old is taking,” he told the S.C. Daily Gazette.
The bill was the result of a policy by Atrium Health, a North Carolina-based health care system with pediatric health locations in the Rock Hill area.
After North Carolina passed a law giving teens the ability to consent to their own medical care, Atrium Health required doctors to get permission from anyone over the age of 12 to share their medical history, including with parents.
Atrium Health repealed that policy late last year, renewing parents’ ability to access their children’s medical records without express permission.
Still, if the bill becomes law, it will ensure no other hospital system can put a similar policy in place, Johnson said.
“We think parents need to be part of the health care decisions of their children, and this codifies that belief,” he said.
The original version gave heartburn to senators of both parties.
As filed, the bill also didn’t allow pharmacists to fill a minor’s prescription without consent, requiring teenagers to bring written permission from their parent or guardian to pick up their prescription.
Sen. Ronnie Cromer of Newberry County, the chamber’s only pharmacist, said that would’ve created a logistical nightmare. Requiring pharmacists to track down a teen’s parents, possibly needing the doctor’s help, before allowing a prescription pick-up would add significantly to their workload, he said.
“The original bill would throw up all kinds of blockades and barricades to kids getting prescriptions,” said Cromer, R-Prosperity.
He said the changes cleared up his reservations. They did for Democrats too.
The revised bill does little to change existing state law. It essentially reaffirms that kids need their parents’ consent for medical treatment, said Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg.
“I don’t know that anybody’s truly opposed to that,” Hutto said.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.
