how do you spell "schadenfreude"?

[electricland]

texaslawchick, this one's for you: Projected Economic Costs Due to Health Consequences of Teenagers’ Loss of Confidentiality in Obtaining Reproductive Health Care Services in Texas from the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine

Best-case scenario? $11.8 million. (Unfortunately because of the Archives' stupid restrictive access policies I can't see more than the abstract unless I head over to the library.) Yay! The article's free! *pets the Archives*

Hit 'em where it hurts! In the wallet!

More to come once I read the thing.

Oh, and the (other) library FINALLY has Going Postal on its way to me! Took them long enough!

Comments

[texaslawchick.livejournal.com]

Dear god is that for me. I went to SPH for my masters, I work at the institution that did the study, and my job is to protect patient confidentiality.

*thump* *thump* *thump* We're a bunch of idiots, aren't we, when it comes to reproductive health? We're so terrified of kids actually doing it, that we don't give them any ammunition at all to protect themselves.

Thank goodness for scientific review of these policies.

[texaslawchick.livejournal.com]

I have a quibble though. I looked up the reporting statute referenced in the article, and I do not see a requirement that children who are sexually active must be reported to law enforcement.

Maybe there is some caselaw or regulatory interpretation that expands the point further, but Tex. Fam. Code section 261.101 is the abuse reporting statute that has been around forever and ever. The language is pretty clear that the reporting requirement kicks in when a health care provider (or teacher, or anyone else licensed by the state) has "cause to believe that a child has been abused or neglected or may be abused or neglected, or that a child is a victim of an offense under Section 21.11, Penal Code [indecency with a child], and the professional has cause to believe that the child has been abused as defined by Section 261.001 [the abuse section of the family code]."

The Penal Code is actually rather humane when it comes to kids having sex with other kids, because it's an affirmative defense to prosecution if the person is no more than three years older than the minor.

The section cited by the article has a two pronged test: suspicion of sexual contact or abuse in general, followed by suspicion of the violation of the family code. I'm looking into this now, because I'm worried that we're not complying. I may end up calling the authors and seeing how they reached this interpretation.

[mrs-cake.livejournal.com]

Aw I'm jealous, you've still got Going Postal to discover... Lucky you!! I enjoyed that book so much. Have fun! :)