Abrams v. Jones

In this Term’s decisions construing the Parental Notification Act,1 the Court has exhibited a disturbing lack of regard for the rights of parents to raise and care for their children.2 This case continues in that vein, holding that under chapter 611 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, mental health care professionals — who, as defined by statute,3 include everyone from physicians to pretenders — have broad discretion to deny parents access to their children’s mental health records, broader discretion than even a district judge has to order disclosure. As eager as the Court has been to find…