Surgery/Pathology reports

dragona

Can anyone advise as to the procedure for obtaining copies of these? Obviously after my own surgery, not any one elses.Thanks in advance.

flerb22

get in touch with the team which operated on you through the hospital switchboard, or the medical records office in the hospital you were in.

sam34

you will have to request a copy of your notes under the freedom of information act. write to the consultant who operated on you, state you are requesting the notes under freedom of info act, and the consultant will pass the letter on to the relevant person in admin. your request has to be in writing.

charlieroot

Just wondering - are you obliged to release medical records under the Freedom of Information Act or the Data Protection Act? I was under the impression you didn't have to unless compelled to by a court? Though I think generally they are given anyway.

sam34

you are obliged to release them.

however, there is a caveat that you do not have to release anything which would be detrimental to the patient's health to read - i cant remember the exact wording, but thats the gist of it. sometimes in psychiatry we would omit some sections of notes. not sure if/how surgeons or physicians would apply that principle.

tallaght01

your GP is very likely to have been sent a copy of any significant path results.

dragona

tallaght01 wrote: »

your GP is very likely to have been sent a copy of any significant path results.

Would it be acceptable just to ask him for a copy then, or would I have to go through certain channels? I take it that if he were in a bad mood, he could just say *it's all ok* or just plain no!

sam34

dragona wrote: »

Would it be acceptable just to ask him for a copy then, or would I have to go through certain channels? I take it that if he were in a bad mood, he could just say *it's all ok* or just plain no!

no harm in asking!
but he may say you have to go through official channels, as i outlined above.

but chance your arm and see what happens!

Tree

charlieroot wrote: »

Just wondering - are you obliged to release medical records under the Freedom of Information Act or the Data Protection Act? I was under the impression you didn't have to unless compelled to by a court? Though I think generally they are given anyway.

Freedom of Information as it's a goverment body.

They can choose to release sensitive material such as medical records to a suitable third party such as your gp.

_Whimsical_

sam34 wrote: »

you are obliged to release them.

however, there is a caveat that you do not have to release anything which would be detrimental to the patient's health to read - i cant remember the exact wording, but thats the gist of it. sometimes in psychiatry we would omit some sections of notes. not sure if/how surgeons or physicians would apply that principle.

That's interesting.I have never heard of that caveat before. Are there guidelines determining what would constitute "detrimental to a patients health to read" or would it be left to the doctor releasing the notes to decide?

I had always thought that a patient was entitled to be made aware of all information relating to their health and medical care.

sam34

chilly wrote: »

That's interesting.I have never heard of that caveat before. Are there guidelines determining what would constitute "detrimental to a patients health to read" or would it be left to the doctor releasing the notes to decide?

I had always thought that a patient was entitled to be made aware of all information relating to their health and medical care.

as i sais, im not 100% sure thats the exact wording of it, but its the general idea.

i dont think there are specific guidelines (or if there are, ive never seen them).

the kind of things we would sometimes leave out in psychiatry would be some of the information you get as collateral history from family, along with who provided it, if it contained very sensitive stuff.

as i type this im actually struggling to think of the last time i saw information being withheld from someone, and i cant actually remmeber when it was. id say ive seen it two or three times tops, out of a lot of requests.

and i cant imagine what info medics or surgeons would consider witholding.

i suppose some people may take the view that doing this is very paternalistic and interferes with the patients rights.... i dont really see it that way myself. it is done with the patients best interests at heaart at all times. there is no provision to withold info to cover up medical error or negligence.

_Whimsical_

sam34 wrote: »

the kind of things we would sometimes leave out in psychiatry would be some of the information you get as collateral history from family, along with who provided it, if it contained very sensitive stuff.


i suppose some people may take the view that doing this is very paternalistic and interferes with the patients rights.... i dont really see it that way myself. it is done with the patients best interests at heaart at all times. there is no provision to withold info to cover up medical error or negligence.

Thanks for that sam34. I can see how it could be useful in the circumstances that you outline provided that the patients care or diagnosis wasn't heavily influenced by the additional history provided by relatives. I'm sure that would be highly unlikely though.

joey54

I too am looking to have a medical report released to me. I am composing my letter at the moment and just wanted to double check that it is section 6 of the freedom of Information act which entitles me to receive a copy of the report/file. Thanks!

locum-motion

joey54 wrote: »

I too am looking to have a medical report released to me. I am composing my letter at the moment and just wanted to double check that it is section 6 of the freedom of Information act which entitles me to receive a copy of the report/file. Thanks!

Why not ask in a legal section of the site? "What section of the act...?" is not a biological or medical question.

Or, alternatively, go to www.irishstatutebook.ie and look it up yourself!

Dr Galen

i don't think you actually have to go quoting the relevant bits of the act. A short letter asking for your medical records to be released to you is all it's taken anytime I've seen it. It's not a big deal at all for hospitals, just involves paperwork and a lot of photocopying

joey54

Mystik Monkey wrote: »

i don't think you actually have to go quoting the relevant bits of the act. A short letter asking for your medical records to be released to you is all it's taken anytime I've seen it. It's not a big deal at all for hospitals, just involves paperwork and a lot of photocopying

Thanks. Wasn't sure whether or not you had to sate the Act to them. Will just write a letter and send it. Thanks again.

sam34

state the act - ie freedom of information act, but you dont need to state the section of the act.