Relatives and Friends Can Get Your Medical Records, Too
Eleanor Madison is getting older and she’s worried. Her husband died back in the 1980s. They never had children. She wonders who will help her if she should get sick.
She does have a niece who may pitch in. “But,” Eleanor told me, “I know my doctors won’t talk to my niece. They won’t give her copies of my records. My friends tell me their own children have trouble getting their parents’ doctors to even talk to them!”
Eleanor’s right. It can be very difficult to get doctors to talk to anyone but their patients, or to provide copies of medical records, no matter who is asking. Here’s an explanation and a solution, too.
The laws which cover access to personal medical information and medical records, called HIPAA (Health Information Portability Accountability Act), are complicated and confusing. They leave huge questions in most doctors’ minds about who may, or may not, have information access.
Doctors do understand the costly fines that may be levied against them for violating HIPAA laws. Therefore, many doctors will simply refuse records or information access to anyone but their patients or patients’ spouses. Some even refuse spouses, too.
However, HIPAA laws do give us patients the right to designate a “proxy,” someone who has our permission to access our medical information and records and help us make our medical decisions.
Assigning your proxy’s permission should be fairly simple. Here’s how:
Ask your doctor for a copy of her healthcare proxy form. Fill out the form but don’t sign it at first. Instead, make several copies: one for each of your doctors, the person you are giving permission to, for yourself, and maybe a few extras in case they are needed someday. Then get original signatures on each.
Take a signed copy to each of your doctors and ask that it be put in your file. When it’s time for your proxy to step in, your doctor will already have that signed form indicating your permission has been granted to gain access to your information. If there are any questions, your proxy will have his or her own copy of the identical form.
Now is the time to get your proxy forms signed and filed at your doctors’ offices -- before you experience a major medical problem when your consent could be questioned.
Eleanor tells me those forms have given her peace of mind.
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Trisha Torrey
is the author of
You Bet Your Life!
The 10 Mistakes
Every Patient Makes
(How to Fix Them
to Get the
Health Care You Deserve)
It expands on the articles found
on this site, providing an
exposé of the problems that
exist in the healthcare system,
and tools you can use to get the care you deserve.
....
Learn more about
You Bet Your Life!
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