A story from blogger Leslie, pointing out what consequences a bad policy of caregivers about their giving access to patietns’ records. Thier image will suffer. While, patients as in most countries in Europe and in the US do have the principle right to view what’s in them; See also here:

http://epatientdave.com/2013/07/19/you-can-ask-to-see-or-get-a-copy-of-your-medical-record-other-health-information/#comment-261333

Here’s her story:

What Happens When Your Medical Records Aren’t Yours?You get a bill for $361.26. I almost had a heart attack.  And then I burst into tears.  And then I got pretty freakin’ pissed off. For that price, I could pay for 18 appointment co-pays with my current insurance.I could do a lot with that kind of money, but I cannot afford to pay that for my medical records. I wanted my medical records because I am moving.  And how was I supposed to know that my medical records over the past five years would be six inches thick, more than 1,000 pages? When I got home one night a few weeks ago and saw a box from a health company in Atlanta, I figured surely that couldn’t be my medical records.  Then I picked up the box and it was heavy to the point where I knew it probably was.  And before I even saw the bill, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I feel like I am being punished because I have a complicated medical history.  It’s insane to me that these people look at this six-inch thick medical record of a 27-year-old, and rather than wonder what my life might be like as it is, they stick it to me even more.And I was under the impression that if I was going to be charged more than $50, I would be contacted before they went ahead with processing my request.  That never happened.  Because if it had, I wouldn’t have been willing or able to pay that much.  The other thing is that I poured through every page and found nearly 350 pages that were blank, only had the hospital logo on them, or only had the line about “electronic mail not being secure”.  There were 1,202 pages at 0.23 each.  I accounted for those, which included the 350 garbage ones I just mentioned.  But then there were 20 pages at $1.16 each and 30 pages at 0.58 each.  I couldn’t account for those. But the real question is, besides how I was going to pay the bill is how can I be a responsible patient if my medical records are in Michigan and I’m in New York? How is it possible that I have to pay for my own medical record?….

See on gettingclosertomyself.blogspot.nl