Ex-wife medicating the children without consent

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

I share joint legal & physical custody with my of my children with my ex-wife as stated in our separation agreement. There has never been a court ordered custody case. They live with their mother primarily and with me every other weekend.

Recently she has begun taking them to several different doctors excessively. The mother is the type that is always seeking sympathy from others for some made up or exaggerated medical condition. Since she recently healed from her last medical issue, all of the sudden my children are deathly ill and on multiple medications for everything from depression and bi-polar to seizures. One of them is experiencing chronic dizziness and dehydration, she is seeing neurologists and cardiologists that can’t figure out what is going on. Neither of them have EVER experienced a seizure. All of these medications are being administered without my consent and I have made several requests for the names and phone numbers of all of the doctors seeing the children but they have been ignored. What are my options? I can not afford a lawyer, so if I did take court action I would have to represent myself. If my ex-wife has doctors saying the children need these medications, even if they don’t, then what grounds do I have to stand on?

Thank you in advance!

2

I went through this a long way back and believe it was Erin who answered me.
Since you have joint custody you have a right to their medical records. seeing as how most of the time with insurance you have to be refered, go to their primary doctor and ask for their records, the referals should be in them. If you have the insurance info the insurance company can also give you where they are being treated. A friend covered his children through BCBS and he went online and got the statements for where the bills were coming from.

And finally, you can always set them up appointments and get a second opinion. I know in the case I questioned here, it was a doctor who gave antibiotics for a cold and mom realized all she had to do was give them symptoms and the doctor would give meds. The doc even went so far as to give vicoden to an 8 year old for a nasty bicycle wreck!!!

3

You do have the right to see your children’s medical records and can seek them from the doctors yourself. You also may take them for a second opinion as Suzie Q suggested. In the event you determine that your ex’s actions are unnecessary and present a risk to the children, you may file a court action for custody and present your case for primary custody to the judge.