My daughters are 13 and 15. They cannot vote. They cannot drive without a licensed adult in the car. They cannot buy a pack of cigarettes or a can of beer, and rightfully so. Yet when it comes to their own medical records, parents can find themselves with less access than they would expect.

I found this out the way many Missouri parents probably do, by accident. My experience was with Saint Francis Healthcare System in Cape Girardeau. I logged into MyChart to check on something for my younger daughter and hit a wall. Saint Francis does offer a proxy access process, but the barriers left me wondering whether the restriction is required by law, set by the health system, or simply how the software is configured.

This is not an issue only for my family. In December 2025, First Alert 4 reported on concerns involving BJC HealthCare’s MyChart system after a social media post claimed BJC “revokes” parental access at age 12. The truth was more complicated: BJC changes parents from full to limited proxy access at 12, and the Missouri Attorney General’s office confirmed it was reviewing whether that setup complies with state law. MyChart is built by Epic Systems, but Epic says it does not decide what parents or minors can see; health systems configure the software under whatever laws apply to them. The real question is not who to blame, but whether Missouri has made its rules clear enough that parents, doctors and health systems all understand where parental access begins and where legally protected information ends.

Missouri law already recognizes parents’ role in their children’s care. Section 431.061 lets a parent with legal custody consent to a minor’s medical treatment, and lets a minor consent independently in narrow circumstances: pregnancy care excluding abortion, venereal disease, and substance abuse. Those exceptions serve a real purpose, since a teenager afraid to seek treatment may avoid care altogether without some confidentiality, and I am not writing to argue those protections should disappear.

I am writing about the gap between that narrow statute and what happens on these portals. The restriction can reach far beyond STI or substance abuse treatment, leaving parents unable to see a broken wrist, a flu shot or a routine physical. Nothing in Missouri statute makes ordinary records off limits to a parent with legal custody. That appears to be a decision made in how systems are configured, and parents like me are left guessing why. Missouri law addresses this from another angle too: Section 191.227 lets a guardian obtain a copy of the health record on written request, subject to the statute’s limits. There is a real difference between the underlying record and what shows up automatically in an online portal, and parents should not have to discover that difference by accident.

So I have started making calls. State Senator Jason Bean’s office is helping investigate which agencies and laws apply. I have talked with a mid-state director for a Missouri family advocacy organization who has worked for years on parental rights, and I have contacted the Attorney General’s office about where its review stands.

Missouri should also watch what is happening elsewhere. In December 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Epic Systems, alleging its practices restrict parental access to children’s records as part of broader claims about Epic’s control of health data. These are allegations in an ongoing lawsuit, not proven findings, and Epic disputes them. That dispute is exactly why Missouri needs clarity on what its own laws require.

I do not think most Missourians would say a 13 year old should have more authority over her medical file than the parent legally and financially responsible for her care. I also do not think anyone wants to strip away protections that let a scared teenager get treated without fear of a parent finding out. Those two things are not in conflict. We can keep the protections the legislature wrote into law while making sure they are not applied more broadly than the law requires.

That is why I would like the legislature to clarify, in plain language, what parents with legal custody can access through electronic portals, and to say plainly when information is confidential and when it must be accessible through a formal records request instead of the portal. I would also like the Attorney General’s office to finish its review and tell Missouri families whether current portal practices comply with state law.

Parents should not have to make phone calls and chase down answers just to understand why their own child’s medical information is unavailable to them. They carry the responsibility for their children’s care, and they should have the information needed to carry it out. Missouri can protect legitimate privacy for minors and protect the rights of parents at the same time, and Missouri families deserve nothing less.

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