As a minor, can I go to the emergency room without my parents finding out?
In the USA, Federal law takes precedence over any state or local laws. So despite state law(California) indicating that except for mental health, birth control, pregnancy, STIu2019s, and drug use problems, minors(except emancipated minors) must have parental permission to be seen. A minor coming to the ER will be seen, but the parents will be called unless the problem is from the aforementioned list. If the parents canu2019t be contacted, they will still be seen or at least have their emergency stabilized. A couple of interesting cases. A neighboru2019s 16 year old daughter arrived by ambulance for a problem related to her first attempt to smoke pot. We took care of her, I gave her a ride home at the end of the shift, and when I saw her dad the next day, I said nothing. Two weeks later the ambulance bill arrived. Now he knew. Another time we had a 17 year old girl in active labor after a full term pregnancy. Her parents never knew. (she weighed about 120 pounds-amazing what baggy sweat clothes can cover). Her parents had left her alone for a four day weekend. She had the baby, turned it over to be adopted, and I donu2019t think her parents ever figured it out (she was on Medicaid, so there was no bill).