WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today said the bipartisan medical records legislation in the Senate has been delayed due to the politicization of the private right of action and rights of minors sections in the bill.

“It is very important that Congress address the important issue of medical records privacy,” Brownback said. “While I was hopeful that we could move a strongly supported bipartisan bill through the committee, I am disappointed that some on the committee wanted to politicize the legislation by creating a new private right of action and by expanding the scope of the legislation under the ‘Rights of Minors’ section.

“The bipartisan bill would have preserved all existing and future state parental notification laws. However, the amendment that was offered by Sen. Kennedy, while preserving state parental notification laws, would have expanded the scope of the bill to effectively deny parents the rights to examine their children’s medical records regardless of the health care received. Under the Kennedy amendment a seven year-old would be empowered to prevent his or her parents from inspecting his or her medical records.

“We believe that it is inappropriate for Congress to interfere with the relationships that exist between a father or a mother and their children. Our families need our encouragement and support. The federal government must not undermine the family unit by giving children the ability to exclude their parents from health care decisions.

“Creating invasive federal legislation that would deny parents the right to be involved in their children’s health care is outrageous. The federal government should not disrupt families by creating barriers of communication within the family structure.

“I am hopeful that we can work through these issues and address the importance of medical records confidentiality in the future,” Brownback said.