Family Law

Importance of Parents Exchanging Healthcare Information About Their Children

By Ben Stevens

In child custody cases, each party's parenting skills are frequently a key issue.  One particularly important area in which this can be seen is with regard to the children's medical care and health issues.  For instance, parents can (and often do) argue over whether a child was taken to the doctor too much, too little, or too late.

For parents who no longer live together, it is very important that they keep each other informed of issues pertaining to a child's health, education, and welfare.  Many Court Orders now routinely include this requirement because Judges believe it to be in the children's best interest.  With regard to healthcare issues in particular, it is very important that parents exchange this type of information in a timely manner.  The failure to do so could give rise to an action seeking a change of custody.

Most reasonable parents would agree that they should immediately notify each other when their child is taken to the Emergency Room for any reason.  CNN recently published a helpful article that discusses situations in which a child should be taken to the Emergency Room, including the following:

• Neck stiffness or rash with fever
• Fever in a newborn over 100.4 F
• Head injury with loss of consciousness, confusion, headache or vomiting
• Burns if larger than your child's palm, if deep or discolored, or if caused by a chemical
• Severe abdominal pain

Source:  "But is it really an emergency? When to take a child to the ER" by Elizabeth Cohen, published at CNN Health.

Full post as published by SC Family Law Blog on April 30, 2009 (boomark / email).