Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Medical Records Ownership Debate

Rachel (not her real name) has been a patient of mine for more than three years. She has a borderline personality disorder that makes it extremely difficult for her to create and sustain relationships and causes significant fluctuations in mood.

She suffered a serious stroke a few years ago, which further impaired her cognitive abilities. Her resultant extreme mood instability led to numerous suicide attempts. Some of them were not legitimate attempts, and she later admitted they were for attention. But there also have been times when she truly wanted to die. Her psychiatrist and I meet with her frequently to try to keep her as emotionally stable as possible.
Rachel will periodically ask to see her medical records. She has a legal right to these records, but there also is concern about how she may respond to seeing doctors' written opinions about her, particularly concerning her personality disorder. 

No comments:

Post a Comment