Right to have a medical misdiagnosis expunged from the record

ppshay

If a hospital made a diagnosis of serious illness, but a short time later corrected this diagnosis, stating that the patient does not, and never did have the illness, would the patient have the right to have all information relating to the diagnosis expunged from his medical record?

Peregrinus

No, I don't think so. Even a record of an erroneous diagnosis can have medical significance. It may later on be relevant and useful to a medical practitioner to know that you had symptoms which, at the time, looked like such-and-such a disease, but turned out not to be. And potentially medically relevant information is not going to be deleted.

coylemj

OP, the diagnosis that you're referring to is known as a 'false positive' i.e. they did tests on you which resulted in a diagnosis that you had a certain condition but subsequent tests showed that this diagnosis was incorrect. This is a natural consequence of the fact that medicine is an inexact science so I wouldn't be too worried about it. It's no reflection on you personally but as the previous poster has pointed out, all of the data is relevant and should be made available to any medical practitioner whom you may consult in the future.

Do you really want lawyers deciding what a doctor or consultant can and can not see on your record? Leave medical decisions to the doctors.

ppshay

I agree with what's being said. I would not have a problem with it being retained for medical purposes. My real concern is in this information being released to third parties, insurance companies for example, or any third party that may in future win a right to access a patients records, and make a decision based on information generated as a result of a mistake.

hullaballoo

ppshay wrote: »

I agree with what's being said. I would not have a problem with it being retained for medical purposes. My real concern is in this information being released to third parties, insurance companies for example, or any third party that may in future win a right to access a patients records, and make a decision based on information generated as a result of a mistake.

Are you a lawyer yourself? because that is how a lawyer thinks, which is not always good.

What the others have said is true but the practical reality is that insurance companies ask questions in such a way as to preclude the need for follow-up questions, e.g., have you ever had any of the following (yes/no): cardiogram; Liver function test; etc.

Once you answer yes to any of them, irrespective of whether the test was carried out on the basis of a misdiagnosis, the premium is generally adjusted. For personal/consumer insurance, such as life assurance etc., it is likely you will just be dealing with someone sitting at a computer inputting your details. There is often little scope for thrashing out what exactly their idea of the insurable risk is or countering with your own reasons why the insurable risk is less risky than their premium suggests.

Sorry for the rant, it's a little bugbear of mine.