Your Legal Rights
What you should know.
You have the
right to copies of your medical information, including copies of test
results.
When a medical practice merges or sells, medical charts get moved and can
get misplaced making access to important information very difficult or
impossible to find.
Reading copies of a medical chart can be very difficult if the notes are
hand written. If you need specific information, ask office staff to
provide that information for you in a legible format or in summary, giving
plenty of advance notice.
Medical practices frequently discard or purge their medical charts after 4
or more years of inactivity making the information in them lost forever.
If
you have a chronic health condition or are under the care of multiple
health care providers, or are preparing for surgery, make sure that each
is aware of any and all medications and / or dietary supplements which may
affect each other, including occasional over the counter drugs.
You should keep copies of your children's medical charts, and immunization
records in particular.
The Medical Information Bureau (MIB) is an organization funded by
insurance companies that gathers adverse medical information on consumers.
This information is shared among health and life insurance companies and
can be used to deny coverage.
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