Medical decision making covers nonemergency healthcare decisions for the child including choice of providers, treatment plans, therapy, medication, mental health care, and access to medical records. Emergency medical decisions are addressed separately — in emergencies the parent with the child makes immediate decisions and notifies the other parent as soon as possible.

When parents share joint legal decision making they must agree on medical decisions or follow the tie-breaking process. Disagreements about treatment plans, medication choices, and therapy providers are common joint decision making disputes.

Both parents are entitled to access the child's medical records regardless of legal decision making structure. A provider cannot refuse to share records with a legal parent based on the other parent's request. The parenting plan should confirm this explicitly.