Skip to main content

Unmarried fathers' access rights

Elhadj Alpha Mahmoud Souare v. Akron Children's Hospital

Updated Nov 11, 2026

In brief

Where it stands
Dismissed

The case ended without a full Supreme Court ruling on the merits.

What it’s about
Elhadj Alpha Mahmoud Souare’s petition says Akron Children’s Hospital denied him access to his child’s medical records under Ohio law and argues that the denial, Ohio’s treatment of unmarried fathers, and barriers tied to court fees violated his rights.
Who it affects
Souare's effort to challenge the denial of access to his child's records and other alleged barriers remains unresolved.

Summary: written with AI from the case record.

Illustration for Elhadj Alpha Mahmoud Souare, Petitioner v. Akron Children's Hospital, et al.
Conceptual illustration · AI-generated

What it's about

He asks the Supreme Court to review related questions about federal privacy law and access to court.

Souare's petition asks the Court to consider questions about unmarried fathers' access to children's medical records, federal privacy law, and fees to pursue appeals.

Question presented

1. Whether a private hospital that explicitly invokes a state statute to deny a father access to his child's medical records acts under color of state law for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, where the denial was made solely pursuant to Ohio Revised Code § 3109.042 — directly conflicting with Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922 (1982). 2. Whether the district court ’ s holding creates an unconstitutional catch-22 denying any judicial forum for fundamental parental rights, violating Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371 (1971). 3. Whether Ohio's categorical exclusion of unmarried fathers from their children's medical records — without notice, hearing, or individualized determination — violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses under Stanley v. Illinois, Troxel v. Granville, and Caban v. Mohammed. 4. Whether HIPAA, 45 C.F.R. § 164.502(g), which grants both parents the right to access a minor child's medical records absent a court order, preempts Ohio Revised Code § 3109.042 as applied by private hospitals to deny unmarried fathers access to their children's medical records. 5. Whether government-created poverty — resulting from a government-admitted wrongful license suspension that eliminated Petitioner's income — can bar access to federal appellate courts when the fees owed arise from cases challenging that same government error, in violation of Boddie v. Connecticut and Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956).

Documents

1

Docket activity

5
  • New analysis added

    Nov 11, 2026 · Court records

  • AI analysis generated: Case Briefing

    Nov 11, 2026 · Generated

  • Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata

    Nov 11, 2026 · Court records

  • Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata

    Nov 11, 2026 · Court records

  • Brief added: Petition

    Mar 25, 2026 · Court records

Sources

Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.

Checked Nov 11, 2026Methodology

Court records and filings

Reporting and analysis