GAL Questions

[backwardsbike]

Hi Soc,

Everyone and order are in PA.  Due to the inability of the father and I to communicate and father's apparent unwillinginess to attend counseling requested by me and ordered by the judge the judge had appointed a GAL for the children.

Children are DS 17 (18 in April) DD 14.5.  Loads of PAS in case.  I' ve written to you before.  My Dh lives with bipolar disorder and is a recovering alcoholic.  We have had our share, an possibly more of ups and downs here.

The GAL has gotten an order for her to have complete access to everyone's medical record.  My attorney actually thought the order referred only to the children.  I requested clarification and I was right.  She wants EVERYONE'S medical record.  Office notes, MRI results, Surgery reports, lab tests, the whole shebang.

My Dh adn I are both disabled.  Our disabilities do not affect our ability to parent.  We were recently investigated by CYS due to a relapse on my DH's part.  We we were found to not be in need of services.  In the past two custody evals we have been an open book with regard to both of our medical conditions.  I have degenerative disc disease and a chronic issue with my cervical spine due to a car accident.  Our openess has simply allowed people who are not medical doctors or psychiatrists to misconstrue our information and use it to discriminate against us.

I object to this GAL having all of this information on the basis of it not affecting the children's best interest AND it being a violation of our privacy without a benefit to the children.  Both my Dh and I need to be able to tell our medical providers exactly how we are feeing without fear that the GAL will read this and twist it into something other than what it is.

I am willing to have any medical provider write a letter stating their perceptions of the effect of our medical histories  on our abilty to parent and on the providers perception as to whether either of us is a danger to the children based on our medical status.  Please note:  We have two custodial children here living with us at all times and no medical provider, counsleor, psychitrist or anyone else has ever had a worry about the children's saftey and/ or level of care in our custody.  My X however, has made two unfounded reports to CYS about us.

My DH is a stay at home dad to our two children.  I am an LPN for the last 25 years, parent educator and am currently enrolled in a master's program in rehabiltation counseling. We bothhold child abuse clearances.

I am not seeking to change custody.  I simply want to maintain the status quo for the next three years and eight months.  The children have already been living with my Dh and I with me having EOW and half of summers for the last nine years with no untoward effects excpet for the stress of having thier parents constantly at odds with one another.

The GAL has sent my attorney an email stating that we would have the opportunity to object to her getting any of our medical records before the judge.

Question:

What is the best arguement to keep this GAL out of our medical records?

[socrateaser]

>Question:
>
>What is the best arguement to keep this GAL out of our medical
>records?

The BEST argument is to request that your custody action be dismissed, on grounds that you believe your privacy in receiving heathcare free of the fear of public disclosure is more important than defending your parental rights.

The next best argument is that a particular healthcare record is substantially more prejudicial than probative, but the reason will be dependent upon the particular record offered as evidence. For example, if there is a mental health record concerning your sexual preferences, and this preference does not affect your ability to parent (i.e., you're not a pedophine), then that record should be excluded.

You can object to the admission of all the medical records, and ask that any offered for admission, first be examined in chambers or closed session, so that the attorneys can argue for or against their admissibility without fear of public disclosure.

Ultimately, the ONLY way to ensure that your records remain private is to request a dismissal of the custody action. But, you could do this at any point where you believed your healthcare privacy was too important to continue the action.

It might cost you some attorney fees, but that's you're only real out.

[backwardsbike]

There is no "custody action" at this time.  GAL was appointed simply to be a gatekeeper as CP is constantly filing all sorts of motions adn the judge is tired of dealing with it.


The GAL sent my attorney an email stating that she would give us a chance to object in court before seeking mine or my DH's medical records.

Question:

Must I give up my parental rights in order to keep the GAL who is untrianed adn unqualified to interpret a medical record out of ours?

[socrateaser]

>Question:
>
>Must I give up my parental rights in order to keep the GAL who
>is untrianed adn unqualified to interpret a medical record out
>of ours?

You are phrasing your question as if the fact that you have parental rights has anything to do with a party's right to discover evidence "reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence," which is the general rule of pre-trial discovery.

You and your ex are constantly fighting over everything. The judge probably thinks that you are both mentally disturbed, so he/she's giving the GAL an opportunity to examine all of the evidence so that the judge can remain neutral (and, frankly, so that he/she can avoid being annoyed by the paperwork).

So, the short answer is, "Yes," you must give up your parental rights in order to keep the GAL out of your medical records.