Re: SSI and your files

[Guest guest]

yes... true... the files are in the possession of the doctor or doctors but the

information belongs to the patient, hence all of the privacy rulings (which are

fast disappearing) and forms signed about who the information can be released

to, etc... praps i was lucky in that all of my treating doctors and hospitals

were willing to make copies for me and for ssi but i guarantee, if they had

given me a hard time about it, i wudda put on my jackboots and picketed their

bldgs... every time i have bloodwork, visit my onco, etc, i ask for a copy of

the day's activities (bloodwork, etc) and reports and they are handed to me w no

argument... praps it's the jersey girl demeanor... i dunno... but i do know that

i'm not real willing to be pushed around, sent on snipe hunts, or told 'no'...

also, if a treating dr or institution said, 'you have to pay for the copies,'

i'd be willing to do that bc i know that it costs to make those copies... i just

wonder about offices and institutions that just seem to automatically say 'nope'

when they KNOW that having copies or sending copies to other doctors or to SS

and other institutions creates a healing atmosphere for their patient....

i haven't had to (yet) do battle w this fm situation but, believe me, even

insured to the nines, the leukemia battle was no great fun... i was sent home to

die or recover for nine more rounds of chemo (which i politely refused - on both

counts)... i did have to make endless phone calls about lab bills, errant

hospital bills, second and third opinion bills... i learned more about cancer

and the insurance war than i ever wanted to know and i hope that my endless

rounds of phonecalls helped out the next person to enter the fray...

so, yeh... possession is 9/10's of the law but cooperation never killed anyone

(except in troy but that was such a pretty horsie) so, when a professional

office refuses, flat out, to help, i'd call my lawyer (bc she loves phonecalls

from me)...

Winter

Re: Re: SSI and your files

Winter:

don't forget that they are YOUR files, not the doctor's files... they get SO

blankety blank UPPITY, don't they?

DOC:

(not wanting any heat directed my way) Technically...they are the doctor's

files. They just happen to be about you....but....a doctor should be willing to

send copies to other doctors. Not too many will make a copy for the patient. I

am willing to try to help have anyones files sent to me and then send them to

you for just the cost of postage.