120. Children and Youth

120.993 Health School Lunch Pilot Programs

 

The Colorado Medical Society supports efforts to expand healthy school meal programs in Colorado schools.
(RES-7, AM 2010; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)

120.994 Mandated Physical Education in Public Schools

 

The Colorado Medical Society supports legislation for mandatory Physical Education (PE) in public schools. School systems, in conjunction with PE, shall also be encouraged to teach nutrition and exercise physiology.
(RES-17, AM 2008; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)

120.995 Physical and Healthy Nutrition Education in Schools

 

The Colorado Medical Society supports and encourages the development of physical education programs and healthy nutrition education in all Colorado schools grades kindergarten through 12.
(RES-30, AM 2003; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)

120.996 Religious Exemption to Child Medical Neglect

 

The Colorado Medical Society supports the removal of barriers (including the religious exemption) to appropriate medical care for children and dependents.
(RES-42, AM 1996; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)

120.997 Confidential Health Services for Adolescents

 

The Colorado Medical Society:

1. Affirms that confidential care for adolescents is critical to improving their health;
2. Encourages physicians to allow emancipated and mature minors to give informed consent for medical, psychiatric and surgical care without parental consent and notification, in conformity with state and federal law;
3. Encourages physicians to involve parents in the medical care of the adolescent patient, when it would be in the best interest of the adolescent. When, in the opinion of the physician, parental involvement would not be beneficial, parental consent or notification should not be a barrier to care;
4. Urges physicians to discuss their policies about confidentiality with parents and the adolescent patient, as well as conditions under which confidentiality would be abrogated. This discussion should include possible arrangements for the adolescent to have independent access to health care (including financial arrangements);
5. Encourages physicians to offer adolescents an opportunity for examination and counseling apart from parents. The same confidentiality will be preserved between the adolescent patient and physician as between the parent (or responsible adult) and the physician;
6. Encourages county medical societies to become aware of the nature and effect of laws and regulations regarding confidential health services for adolescents in their respective jurisdictions and to provide this information to physicians to clarify services that may be legally provided on a confidential basis;
7. Urges undergraduate and graduate medical education programs, and continuing education programs to inform physicians about issues surrounding minors’ consent and confidential care, including relevant law and implementation into practice; and
8. Encourages health care payers to develop a method of listing of services, which preserves confidentiality for adolescents.

(RES-62, AM 1992; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)

120.998 School Bus Safety

 

The Colorado Medical Society supports the position that all school buses should be equipped with 28-inch padded seats and seat belts for the maximum safety of their riders.
(RES-12, AM 1991; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)

120.999 School Children with Herpes

 

The Colorado Medical Society (CMS) concurs with the American Medical Association that public elementary and secondary schools should not exclude a child from school attendance or otherwise discriminate against a child only because he has been diagnosed as having a herpes simplex virus. The CMS believes that the child’s physician continues to be the best judge of whether a child with herpes simplex virus should attend school based on the medical factors associated with this condition.
(RES-36, AM 1986; Reaffirmed, BOD-1, AM 2014)