• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Patients gain access to Florida medical records

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, March 19, 2008

In Florida, patients can ask to see a facility or provider medical incident record. That's according to a state Supreme Court finding released this week that said the 2004 Florida Constitutional Amendment 7, entitled the "Patients' Right to Know" Act, did not need additional legislation to validate or implement it. The Supreme Court also said the Act can be applied retroactively to medical incident records created before the amendment passed, according to the opinion.

Amendment 7 created a constitutional right for persons to have access to records of a healthcare facility's or provider's adverse medical incidents, including medical malpractice and other acts which have caused or have the potential to cause injury or death. In the past, that information was not available, even by court order.

The Supreme Court ruled patients:

• Can access these records at any hospital
• Are not limited to records of the same or similar conditions for which the patient is being treated
• Are not limited to just the final reports of the incidents

The Court also ruled existing confidentiality and privilege statutes are no longer applicable.

• Comment
• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive

Comments