Father's right to access child's medical treatment

[gettingbrighter]

I am an NRP with a 13 year old daughter who I see on a regular basis. I have been divorced from her mother for 11 years and unfortunately our relationship continues to be terrible. She refuses to communicate with me at all and so finding out anything about my daughter is very difficult other than what I hear directly from my daugter.

Yesterday, my daughter opened up to me about some difficulties she has been experiencing following a very disturbing event that happened in her mother's home. It turns out she has been referred to the gp, was referred to a counsellor and is awaiting a psychiatric assessment. I am very disturbed about this all and am desperately worried about her. Clearly it is good that she is receiving treatment, but obviously as a parent I want to know what has been discussed and in particular when it happens, the outcome of the assessment.

As her father (with parental responsibility), will my daughter's doctor speak to me about this and provide me with this information? Her mother refuses to speak to me about it and says it is none of my business.

Non-legal pov here - yes if you have PR you have the same rights and responsibilities as her mother which includes medical stuff.

At the same time your dd is at an age where she is probably able to decide for herself how much her parents are told about any consultation or treatment so the GP may wish to check with her before providing you with information.

Thanks titchy, I'm guessing this will be complicated as his mother will try to pressurise him to say no in that case

"His", "Him" ?? I thought it was your daughter ?

I also have a son, sorry was just talking to a colleague about him as I posted

I think from a legal POV you are afforded the same level of medical information that is available to the mother as you have PR.
From a practical perspective i'm guessing this may be harder to come by.

However, it sounds like you have a loving relationship with your daughter and that she can open up and talk to you? If that is the case i probably wouldn;t go down the Doctor route (at least yet) and your DD might feel that her personal space is being invaded - instead try to gently get her to open up and talk about it, by showing her that you trust her, that she can talk to you in a non judgemental way, that you wont get cross/angry/upset etc. Let her know that when she is ready you will be there to listen and guide

As for her mother, she should realise that in certain circumstances she needs to put her own feelings aside and work with you in the best interests of your daughter not against you!

She would definitely not want to work with me on it, whether it was to my daughter's benefit or not. She'd actually told my daughter not to tell me about it

Yes it's definitely good that my daughter was comfortable to open up to me about it. She is truly disturbed though, not only about the incident itself but some wider issues with her mother and issues at home. Her mother is extrememely controlling and somewhat of an emotional bully. Unfortunately I think the effects are starting to take effect on my daughter