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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 43629" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>It goes beyond the age of the patient. I think in this US medical practice and Australian medical practice sound similar.</p><p></p><p>I get on really well with my GP - I knew him back when he was a student. But he's been sticky at times over giving me access to files. He was stickiest when it involved letting me see what another doctor had written - not that that other doctor had written anything worrying, just that because he was showing me without the other doctor's permission, MY doctor could be in trouble for passing it to me. My GP has been badly burned by a former junior partner who screwed him over professionally, and I was gathering evidence on that same former junior partner to make a formal complaint over his mistreatment of both me and difficult child 3, so my GP reluctantly gave me access to the notes HE OWNED but which this other doctor had written.</p><p></p><p>My former specialist (since retired) wrote a rather unpleasant referral letter about me to another specialist at one time. While seeing the other specialist I was able to read the referral letter upside down across the desk and didn't like what I read. I felt I had been badly misrepresented and as a result, the second specialist had very strong ideas about what to do, which I disagreed with.</p><p></p><p>When next I saw my main specialist I tackled him about the letter. He told me that even though it was about me, it was private correspondence from one doctor to another and patients shouldn't read those letters because</p><p>1) we haven't got the medical training to fully appreciate the semantics of the language; and</p><p></p><p>2) we might read something and be needlessly distressed by it. </p><p></p><p>Basically, he said it was my fault that I was upset, because I shouldn't have read the letter. End of story.</p><p></p><p>However, I did argue that now I HAD read the letter we may as well discuss it, so we did. I tabled research papers on the topic that I'd dug up and pleaded my case. He finally conceded that he shouldn't have made a pronouncement outside his field of expertise without first checking with someone who WAS in that field, and at my request referred me to such an expert.</p><p>It was like him saying in the letter that I was a nut case, and me finally insisting on a referral to a psychiatrist to resolve it one way or another.</p><p></p><p>I continued on good terms with my specialist and when he retired, he handed me my entire file - his choice. So I can read ALL the letters if I want, including the many I sent him, arguing over his latest ideas. (I'm not an easy patient - background in health science makes me a nightmare for most medicos).</p><p></p><p>But in general - patient files belong to the medical practice. If my GP is only an employee of that practice, he isn't even entitled to copies of the file himself. As a result, when my GP has changed practices he's sometimes had to resort to stealing his own notes. In one case he handed me difficult child 3's files and slipped them in with my X-rays, then ushered me out the back door "because it's closer to your car and easier for you to get there on your crutches".</p><p></p><p>In Australia we can apply to view our files under Freedom of Information. But a BIG reason that doctors often prefer to keep files confidential - some doctors aren't too polite in their summary. I think we've all heard the case of a patient whose doctor described her as having "one functioning neurone, and even it's not synapsing properly." </p><p>Stuff like that is actionable.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 43629, member: 1991"] It goes beyond the age of the patient. I think in this US medical practice and Australian medical practice sound similar. I get on really well with my GP - I knew him back when he was a student. But he's been sticky at times over giving me access to files. He was stickiest when it involved letting me see what another doctor had written - not that that other doctor had written anything worrying, just that because he was showing me without the other doctor's permission, MY doctor could be in trouble for passing it to me. My GP has been badly burned by a former junior partner who screwed him over professionally, and I was gathering evidence on that same former junior partner to make a formal complaint over his mistreatment of both me and difficult child 3, so my GP reluctantly gave me access to the notes HE OWNED but which this other doctor had written. My former specialist (since retired) wrote a rather unpleasant referral letter about me to another specialist at one time. While seeing the other specialist I was able to read the referral letter upside down across the desk and didn't like what I read. I felt I had been badly misrepresented and as a result, the second specialist had very strong ideas about what to do, which I disagreed with. When next I saw my main specialist I tackled him about the letter. He told me that even though it was about me, it was private correspondence from one doctor to another and patients shouldn't read those letters because 1) we haven't got the medical training to fully appreciate the semantics of the language; and 2) we might read something and be needlessly distressed by it. Basically, he said it was my fault that I was upset, because I shouldn't have read the letter. End of story. However, I did argue that now I HAD read the letter we may as well discuss it, so we did. I tabled research papers on the topic that I'd dug up and pleaded my case. He finally conceded that he shouldn't have made a pronouncement outside his field of expertise without first checking with someone who WAS in that field, and at my request referred me to such an expert. It was like him saying in the letter that I was a nut case, and me finally insisting on a referral to a psychiatrist to resolve it one way or another. I continued on good terms with my specialist and when he retired, he handed me my entire file - his choice. So I can read ALL the letters if I want, including the many I sent him, arguing over his latest ideas. (I'm not an easy patient - background in health science makes me a nightmare for most medicos). But in general - patient files belong to the medical practice. If my GP is only an employee of that practice, he isn't even entitled to copies of the file himself. As a result, when my GP has changed practices he's sometimes had to resort to stealing his own notes. In one case he handed me difficult child 3's files and slipped them in with my X-rays, then ushered me out the back door "because it's closer to your car and easier for you to get there on your crutches". In Australia we can apply to view our files under Freedom of Information. But a BIG reason that doctors often prefer to keep files confidential - some doctors aren't too polite in their summary. I think we've all heard the case of a patient whose doctor described her as having "one functioning neurone, and even it's not synapsing properly." Stuff like that is actionable. Marg [/QUOTE]
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