Court sides with doctors on reporting teen sex

The federal ruling holds that a Kansas law does not trigger mandatory reporting of minors' sexual activity.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. May 15, 2006.

In a decision hailed by the medical community for protecting adolescent patients' confidentiality, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas ruled in April that health care professionals are not required to report all underage sexual activity as child abuse.

The federal court decision stops Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline from enforcing what physicians say was an overly broad interpretation of a 1982 law that requires health professionals to report to the state suspicions "that a child has been injured as a result of ... sexual abuse."

The ruling "protects health care professionals from being prosecuted for providing good care," said Bonnie Scott Jones, a staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit in October 2003 on behalf of Aid for Women, a Kansas City-based medical clinic that provides a range of gynecological care, including abortions and contraception.

In his 2003 opinion, Kline concluded that doctors, nurses, teachers and counselors had to report sex, both consensual and nonconsensual, between minors younger than 16. He said teenagers seeking medical attention for a sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy or birth control could also trigger mandatory reporting.

Failing to report could result in a misdemeanor criminal charge against a physician or other health professional.

But the court said the statute gives doctors the discretion to determine whether a child has been injured.

"A plain language interpretation of the reporting statute acknowledges the importance of the health care professional's ability to obtain and maintain a young patient's confidence in order to treat the patient appropriately," Judge J. Thomas Marten wrote.