Releasing medical information and identification of a minor

[uppityperson]

I am wondering what the legalities and moralities, ethics, about releasing medical information about and identifying a minor. This comes after reading about the mom who got pills to terminate her daughter's pregnancy. The mother's complete name, occupation and town of residence have been widely published, along with "16 year old daughter".

Anyone who wants to will easily be able to find out who this daughter was, including knowing about her medical history, in part.

I understand this happened after a trial, but still it seems really wrong to me to do this to a minor. I do not know what the solution might be, but wanted to bring it up since I had not seen this issue addressed.

I will be off line for a bit the next couple days, so apologize if I do not answer in a timely manner, but I thought it was an interesting thing to ponder and ask for others opinions.

[elleng]

1. Went to trial, which a public record,

so unfortunately the consequences are clear.

[uppityperson]

2. If a minor is abused, and it goes to trial, do they release the info? It would seem comparable

as far as legally releasing identifying and medical info. Not the same as far as what happened, but just the releasing of info.

[elleng]

3. The status of the record and decision,

in such a case, could be in the hands of the court.

[uppityperson]

4. Yup. It just struck me that I hadn't seen anything about this. The poor teen.