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Archiver > APG > 2007-06 > 1181105675


From: Carolyn Ybarra <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Hospital Records
Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 21:54:35 -0700
References: <mailman.70794.1181090556.3852.apg@rootsweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.70794.1181090556.3852.apg@rootsweb.com>


I tried to order mental records from the 1920's regarding deceased
person for a client who was her great grandchild. This was from a
California mental hospital that still exists in some form (the records
are still at the institution). They rejected my request based on
HIPAA. However they provided a phone number, and when I called the
person explained to me that the client could obtain the records with
the following information: Proof of the relationship, a letter from
the client's doctor stating the medical need for the records, and a
reference to the appropriate Calif. legal code that allows such a
request. They would then forward the records to the doctor, not the
relative! (Doctor's argument presumably could be that some mental
illnesses have an inherited factor and thus it was important to the
family to have all such family medical history...)

I wish my client would have done this so I could see how it all worked
out, but alas, that person decided not to pursue it.

Carolyn

Carolyn Ybarra, Ph.D
Family Research Services
1017 El Camino Real #332
Redwood City, CA 94063

On Jun 5, 2007, at 5:42 PM, wrote:

> Message: 9
> Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 14:00:10 -0700
> From: "Cheri Casper" <>
> Subject: Re: [APG] Hospital Records
> To: "Karen J Matheson" <>, <>
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset="US-ASCII"
>
> This may have to do with the time frame in which the records were
> ordered.
> After the institution of of the HIPAA laws, obtaining medical records
> got a
> lot more complicated. I even had a cemetery refuse to tell me if
> someone
> was interred there because of the HIPAA laws (which, by the way, only
> covers
> medical providers, not cemeteries). Despite my sending them a copy of
> the
> law itself and noting that anyone could walk the cemetery and find out
> who
> was buried there, they still refused to tell me if my
> great-grandparents
> were buried there.
>
> CheriC
> Spokane, WA

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