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: Bodily Injury Blog

Its Often a Struggle to Gain Access to Medical Records

By Edward Bills

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Often it  is a struggle to determine why someone died in a hospital while being treated, regardless of the reason for the treatment and often, when the records are finally released it is too late under state law to file a civil lawsuit. The problem reflects a common complaint nationwide by patients and their families: It can be difficult to obtain medical records from hospitals and other treatment facilities after something goes wrong.

Under federal law, every patient or a designated representative has the right to see and copy the patient’s medical records. However, missing or disputed records are the most common source of complaints.

Although there are no statistics on such cases, disputes over medical records often are at the crux of malpractice lawsuits. Such claims often center on records that patients or their families believe were purposely withheld by hospitals.

The federal law that gives patients and family members access to medical records is the privacy section of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act.

HIPAA allows health care providers to withhold records in some circumstances, as long as they explain why they are doing so. Among the records that may be withheld: psychiatric documents and documents generated in preparation for a legal action.

Thousands of Americans simply give up the fight to get complete copies of their medical records after a problem occurs with their care, because doctors, hospitals and their lawyers can make the process so difficult.

Even when records are provided, they sometimes are obscured.

Full post as published by Bodily Injury Blog on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).

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