A prominent academic in the field of adolescent health, Dr Melissa Kang, has written an article highlighting the importance of a recent study conducted at the Centre for Adolescent Health in Melbourne. The study, led by Dr Rony Duncan and Professor Susan Sawyer, surveyed parents about confidentiality with adolescents. The findings of the study indicated that parents want doctors to inform them about a wide range of health and behavioural issues related to their adolescent children, even when their children do not want them to be told. This has the potential to create significant ethical challenges for health professionals, who are advised by clinical guidelines to provide confidential care to adolescents.

The article by Dr Melissa Kang can be accessed here: You want to see your teens medical records but do you have the right?

“Confidentiality With Adolescents in the Medical Setting: What Do Parents Think?”
Read the editorial written about this article: 2011 Editorial

The original research article can be accessed here:  Duncan et al 2011

Dr Melissa Kang is a Senior Lecturer in General Practice at the University of Sydney and has written the “Dolly Doctor” medical column for Dolly magazine for the past 18 years.

Dr Rony Duncan is an NHMRC Research Fellow at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Children’s Bioethics Centre and Bruce Lefroy Centre for Genetic Health Research at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

Professor Susan Sawyer is Director of the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital and Chair of Adolescent Health in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne.