Confidentiality in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology: When We Can, When We Can't, and When We're Challenged

Maintaining confidentiality is an important aspect of adolescent health care. Different states and provinces have laws around the provision of confidential health care to minors for specific health concerns such as reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse. However, there are situations where confidentiality cannot be assured, particularly if the adolescent is being abused. Educating teens and parents about the circumstances in which confidentiality is necessary is sometimes challenging for the clinician. Moreover, with the advent of electronic medical records, patient portals and other requirements to share health information with parents and the adolescent patient, confidentiality is sometimes not easy to assure. The following is the Elsevier Lecture from the 2015 Meeting of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.