[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Confidentiality and collections



Our medical records (and we have a separate department for this - it is not part of the Archives' jurisdiction) always remain confidential.  They are available to outsiders (mostly patients' physicians) on a need-to-know basis, with protocols and release forms, etc. in place.  The chief of the medical records department is ultimately responsible.  Other than the patients' own physicians, their family members sometimes really have legitimate medical reasons to have access to their relatives' records.  They are used for medical research, usually in large numbers and therefore anonymously; but  the identity of the patient is masked if the statistics are treated individually.   Otherwise they are off limits.  They would never be available if genealogical research were the only objective, in and of itself.  

There are well-established guidelines for medical records.  Medical records personnel go to school and get some sort of certificate in that field.  If you want, I could ask our records people and find out what their national organization is and where to find such guidelines.

Fred Lautzenheiser
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
lautzef@ccf.org

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>