LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan parents could soon have broader access to their children’s medical records under a bill that passed the state House last week with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans in support.
House Bill 5974, sponsored by Rep. Joe Aragona, R-Clinton Township, would amend Michigan’s Medical Records Access Act to remove a longstanding exception that lets minors keep certain medical records private from their parents.
Under current Michigan law, minors generally need a parent or guardian’s consent before receiving health care. But there are exceptions. Minors can seek emergency care, substance use treatment, and sexual or mental health services, including birth control, STI testing and outpatient mental health counseling, without a parent’s permission. In those cases, the law also lets the minor keep the related records confidential.
Aragona’s bill would eliminate that confidentiality protection. If passed, parents and guardians would be able to access a minor’s full medical record, even for care the minor received without their knowledge.
Aragona said the idea came from a conversation with a constituent whose daughter was asked by a doctor whether her mother could see her medical records.
“Parents have the right to the medical records, and they have the right to be in the room when need be,” Aragona said. “We’re trying to fight for parents and their ability to take care of their kids.”
Aragona compared the situation to other age-based restrictions, like getting a tattoo, arguing parents should have full insight into decisions that affect their children just as they do in other areas of life.
Democrats who opposed the bill during debate said removing the confidentiality exception could backfire by discouraging minors from seeking care altogether.
Their argument centers on a concern long documented by adolescent health researchers: minors who fear a parent will find out about sensitive care, such as mental health treatment or STI testing, may simply avoid seeking it rather than risk that disclosure.
The University of Michigan’s Adolescent Health Initiative, which tracks confidentiality laws, says the current exceptions are already narrow, covering emergency care, emancipated minors, and a limited set of services like contraception, STI treatment and short-term mental health counseling.
Even with those exceptions in place, minors already need parental consent for things like vaccines, mental health medication and inpatient psychiatric treatment, meaning the bill would not change the much larger share of care that already requires parental involvement.
Critics also raised cases involving parental conflict or neglect, situations the existing confidentiality exceptions were designed to account for, arguing the bill would remove protections for minors in those circumstances along with everyone else.
He also said the bill is meant to clear up what he describes as an inconsistency among health care providers in how they handle minors’ records, claiming some practices use signed consent forms while others rely on verbal agreements. State law does not require parental consent for the specific categories of care exempted under current confidentiality protections, such as certain sexual health and mental health services, so the inconsistency Aragona describes may reflect differences in how providers apply those existing exemptions rather than a lack of any consent standard.
The bill passed the House 61 to 46. All Republicans who voted supported it, along with three Democrats: Reps. Peter Herzberg, Tullio Liberati, and Alabas Farhat. The remaining 46 Democrats present voted no.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where it would need Democratic support to reach Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk, something Aragona acknowledged is unlikely in the near term, given the Senate’s calendar and the chamber’s Democratic majority. He said he hopes for more momentum when lawmakers return from summer recess.
The push comes as lawmakers in Lansing also face a separate deadline: the state’s constitutional July 1 budget deadline, which appears poised to slip for a second consecutive year as negotiations continue.
