Medical malpractice is more common than many people realize. Overworked medical professionals can easily make mistakes that have negative consequences for their patients. Medical malpractice may involve making diagnostic errors, prescribing drugs in an unsafe manner or committing egregious oversights during surgery.
Typically, patients hoping to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit against a physician require the insight of other medical professionals. They have to establish that another doctor could have avoided the unfavorable outcome. They must also connect their financial and medical consequences to the negligence or errors of a licensed professional. Medical records often play a major role in substantiating malpractice claims.
Can a doctor or hospital implicated in a malpractice scenario refuse to provide a patient with their medical records?
Patients have a right to their records
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established numerous critical legal protections for modern medical patients. As the name of the law implies, it restricts the unauthorized release of private medical information. Even family members and other doctors do not necessarily have the right to access a patient’s records without written permission.
The law establishes that patients have the right to request their complete medical records from any professional or facility involved in their care. Under HIPAA, every patient has the right to request their records, and any licensed care provider or facility must make records available.
Facilities do have the right to charge for the cost of copying or printing records. However, they cannot outright refuse to provide records to patients. Refusing to provide complete records is potentially a violation of HIPAA that can lead to consequences for the facility or professional.
How can patients make use of their HIPAA rights?
Frequently, patients seeking their medical records may need to submit a formal request in writing to a specific party working at the hospital or medical practice. They may need to pay any fees associated with physical copies.
While practitioners and businesses can have specific procedures for patients to follow, they cannot simply deny requests for personal medical records. Submitting requests in writing helps validate that the patient followed the right procedures. In cases where patients cannot get their records or where the records show signs of tampering and omissions, patients may need help addressing the issue.
An attorney familiar with medical malpractice litigation can assist with issues related to medical privacy laws. Securing medical records can help patients validate that they have a legitimate reason to allege that they have experienced medical malpractice.