Today's headline: Doctor's notes

Doctor's Notes: Should you read them, By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times.

This morning's headline takes me back many years. It takes me back to the time when I, as a nurse, wrote on patients' charts. The notes concerned the patients' condition and were written for no other purpose than to inform others on their progress. There was no question about who should read the charts, the care givers, including the doctor, or the patient. Absolutely allowing patients to read their own charts was out of the question. The patient was not sufficiently knowledgeable to understand the terminology; and if they were of the medical profession, all the more reason to keep them from reading their own charts.

We watched those who worked in the medical field carefully. We understood they would, if they could, read their own charts. It was up to the doctor to tell them what they needed to know. This was a medical morality issue, what to tell patients and what not to tell patients. It never occurred to any of us in the sixties that at some future date there would be a problem people wanting to read their own medical charts.

That time has come. The law states now that patients are owners of their medical information and they have rights and should be allowed to read it if they should so wish. What do I say? I have been both a health care worker and a patient. I understand the reasoning on both sides. I am in favor of not allowing patients to read their own medical records as a choice, not as an option. The doctor is the own to explain the procedures as well as they can and that should be sufficient.

It is my belief that the law missed a few points. Should it become necessary to prove a case in court, by all means, bring in the records, and bring in the medical personnel, but otherwise, what's the excuse for being so noisy about has been written. So what, if every word may not be to their liking, that is the way it is. There is no way we will be able to control what others say or write about us, nor should we try. As I see it, this is an impediment to progress of the health care reform. Read more. . . .