Intrusive Questionnaire Covertly Given To 13-Year-Old Daughter by Pediatrician

By Ed Oliver
May 2002

When Diane Neeley took her 13-year-old daughter Amanda for a check-up at Pediatric Health Care Associates in Peabody recently, she became angry when the nurse covertly gave the girl an intrusive questionnaire.

It was the first time they had gone to that doctor who was listed in the health care directory of their provider, SIGNA PPO.

"My daughter was sickened and felt horribly violated to being asked such questions," she says. The daughter told her, "These are not things that you ask people like me. I'm only 13 years old, for heaven's sake."

Neeley told the pediatrician how offended she was and that she did not appreciate the office giving anything to her daughter behind her back.

The doctor replied, according to Neeley, state law requires that all children are treated as if they are promiscuous and doctors have every right to offer sexual advice, birth control, etc. without parental permission.

Neeley says, "I am so sickened. My daughter is a sweet, innocent girl who believes in God and never even dreamed of the horrible things she was asked."

She said her daughter has attended a Christian school in New Hampshire since fifth grade.

The form asks for information about guns in the home, fighting in the home, friends' behavior, sex and drug activity, etc.

"This questionnaire is not only invasive, it is deliberately designed to undermine parental authority and decision-making, without the parents even being aware of it," says Nev Moore from the parents' rights group, Justice for Families.

"In addition," she says, "it is a sneaky device used to manipulate children to unwittingly disclose information about their homes and parents that can then be distorted and used to open the door for the state to enter our homes and lives and take control of them."

Not State Law

MassNews was interested in finding out what state law mandates an intrusive questionnaire to a young girl at the doctor's office without her parent's knowledge. We also wanted to know what the relevance of some of the questions was to a check-up, and whether DSS was behind this form in any way.

The pediatrician, Dr. Miriam Dunau, did not return repeated calls from MassNews seeking comment. MassNews even visited her office, but she would not come out to discuss the matter. The receptionist gave the reporter the name and contact number for Neal Stephany, the supervisor located at another office. Pediatric Health Care Associates has 6 offices in the area. Stephany would not return calls either. The head of nursing, Ann Costa, also did not return calls.

MassNews called the Mass. Board of Registration in Medicine, which regulates doctors, to find out if there is a requirement to interrogate children with an intrusive questionnaire.

Spokesperson Claudette Houle told MassNews the Board of Registration does not have any regulation associated with teen questionnaires.

According to Neeley, Dr. Dunau later called her and said it was inappropriate to send a reporter to "harass" her and turn the incident into a big circus.

Neeley answered that it was inappropriate for the doctor to give an intrusive questionnaire to her daughter behind her back.

According to Neeley, the doctor then told her she must have misunderstood about the form or else Dunau didn't explain it right during their argument that day. The questionnaire, she said, was a clinic form and not required by state law. She said the law does permit them to ask about and dispense contraceptives, and if she objects to the questions on the form, she has the right to go elsewhere.

"She changed her story," said Neeley, who is considering filing a complaint with the Board of Registration in Medicine. "All of a sudden there is no state law." She said she not only objects to the questions, but at the very top of the form they go behind her back.

Neeley says, "Now my eyes are open." She hopes other parents will also be on the lookout for snooping by their doctors.