I was watching an episode of law and order: svu and (like in most episodes) a young girl was raped. One of the detectives's wife told him about it, and said she had heard it from her friend, a nurse at a hospital. The detective of course wanted to report it, but he wasn't supposed to have known about it and he coouldnt report it unless the girl decided to press charges (or atleast come forward with it). He went to talk to his wife's nurse friend and she said he shouldn't have known about it and that she couldnt do anything unless the girl wanted to come forward herself, because of patient- doctor confidentiality laws. This got me thinking because the girl was only 14 and I thought that if the patient was under 18 doctors had to report it to parents, police, etc because the child was a minor and had been raped. Maybe I have it all wrong, and I have no idead what i'm talking about, but I really would like to know so if anyone has any ideas about this, please respond.
Merci beaucoup! --stephanie