dr accessing arrest record to avoid giving prescriptions

[judylabrador]

coinjock north carolina


Can a Dr that is only a General Practioner go through a patients arrest record? He is the primary care giver for this patient and has called other Drs that could be used by the patient, with this information which has allienated the patient from getting any medical help in the future. It has caused the patient to lose all care. This Dr. did this without permission from the patient but, then informed him of what he did! Since then the patient can not get help for conditions that have been ongoing for the last 20 years.

 

[justalayman]

arrest records are public records. Anybody can view them.


Does this have anything to do with seeking painkillers by chance?

 

[Antigone*]

coinjock north carolina


Can a Dr that is only a General Practioner go through a patients arrest record? He is the primary care giver for this patient and has called other Drs that could be used by the patient, with this information which has allienated the patient from getting any medical help in the future. It has caused the patient to lose all care. This Dr. did this without permission from the patient but, then informed him of what he did! Since then the patient can not get help for conditions that have been ongoing for the last 20 years.

More doctors should be so proactive.

 

[tranquility]

A doctor who goes the extra mile is clearly appropriate. More so than most. It is not illegal or unethical to try hard.

Pity he's in another state from me, or I'd go there myself.

 

[Ohiogal]

It is possible that he violated HIPAA. Was there a release for him to talk to the other doctors about this patient?

 

[jwagaman]

It is possible that he violated HIPAA. Was there a release for him to talk to the other doctors about this patient?

If the doctor was "cold calling" other doctors in the area then yes, I believe it would be a violation. The law is pretty strict and clear that you can't play, "Big Brother" in this way. Have the patient talk to a local client rights advocacy group to discuss it with them. They will be able to help the patient if there has been a violation.

It was responsible (and perfectly legal) to try to look up arrest records for the patient, but not okay to share that info with other doctors (even though it is "public Record," I believe). In any rate it is also unethical. Do no harm right?

 

[justalayman]

If the doctor was "cold calling" other doctors in the area then yes, I believe it would be a violation. The law is pretty strict and clear that you can't play, "Big Brother" in this way.

Do you have some law, any law, to back that up? Since it wouldn't be illegal to post the information on every telephone pole in the state, I wonder what law prevents the doctor from providing this information to specific individuals.

 

[CSO286]

If the doctor was "cold calling" other doctors in the area then yes, I believe it would be a violation. The law is pretty strict and clear that you can't play, "Big Brother" in this way. Have the patient talk to a local client rights advocacy group to discuss it with them. They will be able to help the patient if there has been a violation.

It was responsible (and perfectly legal) to try to look up arrest records for the patient, but not okay to share that info with other doctors (even though it is "public Record," I believe). In any rate it is also unethical. Do no harm right?

Your "do no harm" argument is based on the premise that what the doctor is doing is negatively harming the patient.

If the doctor is providng publicly accessible information to other care providers in an effort to reduce prescription abuse, then ultmately he is NOT causing harm to the patient, since by preventing the prescription abuse/misuse, he is actually benefitting the patient's health.

I would also disagree witth your ethics argument. By sharing the information--depending on the method he used (See my next post)--he is also enabling his peers to make wise dicisions about providing certain medications to patients who may have a history of abusing/misusing thier Rx's.

 

[CSO286]

It is possible that he violated HIPAA. Was there a release for him to talk to the other doctors about this patient?

Question: What about the Doctor in question printing out a list of, let's call them frequent fliers, who are habitually arrested on drug related or Rx abuse related charges and circulating it among his peers?


Wouldn't this general and publicly accessible info thus circulated be--for lack of a better phrase--a HIPAA work around?

 

[CreativeBlock]

I agree with OhioGal. Potentially.

If he called other doctors in the area and said something like "John Q has an arrest record for drug abuse (allowing the other professionals to come up with their own course of action)," then no ... there's not the taint of HIPAA violation.

If he called other doctors in the area and said something like "John Q has an arrest record for drug abuse, so don't prescribe painkillers," then yes, that would be a violation.

At the very least, at least according to the ethics courses I took years ago, he's highly unethical either way, unless he's acting in the stead of a consultant.

 

[CreativeBlock]

Wouldn't this general and publicly accessible info thus circulated be--for lack of a better phrase--a HIPAA work around?

You're focusing on the wrong kind of info for a HIPAA violation. In the scenario you provide, there is no discussing of the patient's medical history.

In your scenario, any physicians who see those flyers make their decisions regarding the patient's treatment using legal criteria, not medical criteria.

 

[justalayman]

If he called other doctors in the area and said something like "John Q has an arrest record for drug abuse, so don't prescribe painkillers," then yes, that would be a violation.

No, that would not be a violation. There is no private health information in the statement above therefore, no HIPAA violation.

 

[CSO286]

You're focusing on the wrong kind of info for a HIPAA violation. In the scenario you provide, there is no discussing of the patient's medical history.

In your scenario, any physicians who see those flyers make their decisions regarding the patient's treatment using legal criteria, not medical criteria.

I probably simply said wrong...I meant that in the back of the doc's mind, he's going to recal a flyer he saw that said "John Q Has an arrest record for Rx abuse" and then considers that info along with any other relevant details when he prescribes XYZ drug for John Q.

 

[George1776]

The OP does not provide enough information to make an informed decision.

 

[CreativeBlock]

No, that would not be a violation. There is no private health information in the statement above therefore, no HIPAA violation.

It would still be a grey area. He's provided a medical consultation and is discussing a patient's medical history (even if indirectly) with another physician without the patient's authorization.

Essentially, he's given the patient's name and implied the patient's medical history and given a consultation without permission.

ETA: At the very least, he's violated doctor-patient confidentiality. That's an ethics violation of the most despicable sort.

While I agree in theory that it would be wonderful if more doctors were proactive when it came to a patient's health, it's unethical because the situation presented is situational. There is a reason why it's not illegal to prescribe pain medication to even those with a history of abuse ~ it's simply illegal to prescribe too much and in an uncontrolled setting.

What's abuse today, could be necessary later. And if he's effectively constrained the patient from getting those medications, it could have dire effects and indeed "harm the patient."