Medical Information and Privacy

Dan Frith

Contributor

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I received a telephone call the other day from a woman whose adult mother was in the hospital. The woman is a single (working) mother and had just been told by her mother's nurse that she (the nurse) could not provide the daughter with information about her mother's medical condition. The nurse said that federal law (called HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) prohibited her from telling the daughter about her mother's medical condition.

The nurse was wrong...but her mistake is made by many healthcare providers who just don't know what they are talking about. According to guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, if the patient doesn't object to the disclosure of medical information, the healthcare provider is permitted to share the information with family, friends, and others involved in the patient's care.

HIPAA doesn't require the patient to give written permission to disclose private medical information.

HIPAA doesn't require family members to "prove" their relationship to the patient via a driver's license or other form of identification.

For more information on the privacy of your medical records read this notice from the Department of Health and Human Services.