Opinion ID: 3065289
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the children’s medical examinations outside

Text: THEIR MOTHER’S PRESENCE Finally, the Greenes assert a separate claim under the Fourteenth Amendment premised on Camreta’s decision to exclude Sarah from her daughters’ physical examinations at the KIDS Center. Specifically, the Greenes argue that Sarah’s exclusion violated her “substantive due process right to be there for her children,” as well as S.G. and K.G.’s right “to have their mother there when they face potentially traumatic events, such as the exams [performed at the KIDS Center].” We agree.22 Wallis directly addressed the constitutionality of investigatory physical examinations of children outside their parents’ presence. We stated: [P]arents have a right arising from the liberty interest in family association to be with their children while they are receiving medical attention (or to be in a waiting room or other nearby area if there is a valid reason for excluding them while all or a part of the medical procedure is being conducted). Likewise, 22 Camreta initially argued that he was entitled to absolute, quasi-judicial immunity for executing the Juvenile Court’s order, but at oral argument conceded that he is not. The concession is well-taken. Camreta was not executing a court order when he made the decision to exclude Sarah from the KIDS Center assessments, as the order said nothing about excluding Sarah from the examinations. GREENE v. CAMRETA 16337 children have a corresponding right to the love, comfort, and reassurance of their parents while they are undergoing medical procedures, includ- ing examinations — particularly those . . . that are invasive or upsetting. The interest in family association is particularly compelling at such times, in part because of the possibility that a need to make medical decisions will arise, and in part because of the family’s right to be together during such difficult and often traumatic events. Wallis, 202 F.3d at 1142. This passage from Wallis establishes two points central here: first, parents and children maintain clearly established familial rights to be with each other during potentially traumatic medical examinations; and second, this right may be limited in certain circumstances to presence nearby the examinations, if there is some “valid reason” to exclude family members from the exam room during a medical procedure. [31] Even if Camreta had a valid reason to exclude Greene from K.G.’s medical exam, which we do not decide, Wallis held that parents have a right to be present at medical examinations of their children or “to be in a waiting room or other nearby area if there is a valid reason for excluding them.” Id. at 1142. In this case, according to Sarah, she “was ordered by the staff of the KIDS Center, who were under orders of Bob Camreta, to leave the premises” entirely, depriving her of any opportunity to comfort her children even after the examinations had been completed. Prohibiting Sarah from remaining in an adjoining or nearby room violated her constitutional right under Wallis. [32] The language of Wallis is clear and unambiguous: government officials cannot exclude parents entirely from the location of their child’s physical examination absent parental consent, some legitimate basis for exclusion, or an emergency requiring immediate medical attention. Id. at 1141-42. The 16338 GREENE v. CAMRETA KIDS Center assessments involved the visual inspection and photographing of the children’s genitals. This process could certainly be emotionally traumatic to a young girl. Cf. Redding, 129 S.Ct. at 2642 (citing a study concluding that strip searches can “result in serious emotional damage.”). The children’s right to their mother’s comfort and their mother’s right to provide such comfort were thus at their apex. Camreta’s decision to exclude Sarah not just from the examination but from the entire facility where her daughter was being examined violated the Greenes’ clearly established rights.23 [33] We therefore reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Camreta on this claim as well.