How to get permission to talk to a parent's doctor
To talk with a parent's doctor, ask your parent to sign the practice's release form, often called a HIPAA authorization, naming you as someone the office may share information with. Each practice, hospital and pharmacy may need its own form. Ask your parent to add you to their patient portal as a proxy too. A release lets you hear information; it does not let you make decisions.
Why it matters: Privacy rules protect your parent, and a signed release is how they let you help.
Steps
- Ask your parent whether they want you to be able to talk with their doctors.
- Ask each practice, hospital and pharmacy for its release form.
- Have your parent sign, naming you and what may be shared.
- Ask the practice to note it in the chart and keep a copy yourself.
- Ask your parent to add you as a proxy on their patient portal.
- Keep a list of which offices have the release on file.
Stop and call a professional if
- your parent can no longer decide and has no health care proxy: ask the care team's social worker or a lawyer what is needed
Questions to ask the professional
- Is my release on file here?
- Can I be added as a proxy on the portal?
Common mistakes
- Assuming family can always be told everything.
- Signing one release and expecting every office to have it.
- Confusing a release with the right to make decisions.
Outside the US or in another state: US privacy rules apply here; other countries have their own consent processes.
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Teach: How to get permission to talk to a parent's doctor
What to say
To talk with a parent's doctor, ask your parent to sign the practice's release form, often called a HIPAA authorization, naming you as someone the office may share information with. Each practice, hospital and pharmacy may need its own form. Ask your parent to add you to their patient portal as a proxy too. A release lets you hear information; it does not let you make decisions.
What to show
- Ask your parent whether they want you to be able to talk with their doctors.
- Ask each practice, hospital and pharmacy for its release form.
- Have your parent sign, naming you and what may be shared.
- Ask the practice to note it in the chart and keep a copy yourself.
- Ask your parent to add you as a proxy on their patient portal.
- Keep a list of which offices have the release on file.
Where it stops
Stop and call a professional if your parent can no longer decide and has no health care proxy: ask the care team's social worker or a lawyer what is needed.
Check question
What does a medical information release let you do?
Answer: Hear information the parent allowed. Decisions need a health care proxy or similar document.
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Quick quiz
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Related skills
Sources
- US federal health information privacy guidance for families, 2025. Reviewed September 28, 2026.
Written in our own words from the sources above. It is general information, not advice for your situation; where a professional, your doctor or your lease says something different, follow them.
Last reviewed . First published .