Is a personal letter I have written to my doctor considered confidential? Can he share it with others?


A personal letter concerning poor treatment by a facility she referred me to was copied, and routed to who knows where on earth and ended up in my medical file, accessible to adjectives who see it. It was not a "complaint" letter. The doctor routed and copied it. There was discussion of PTSD. It be a follow up to an earlier letter in which I stated that I required it kept quiet. And "Lori" you answer was very condescending. I'm not retarded. I know my report isn't in the waiting room to be browsed by others. And OBVIOUSLY I didn't copy and route it if I am asking if this is legal, now am I?
Best Answer:
If your dispatch was about the treatment you received at a facility to which your doctor referred you, but did not discuss your medical history/condition, then likelihood are that is not considered "protected health information" under HIPAA. Did you copy and route the note to other parties or did your doctor? If you did it, then what's the complaint? If your doctor did it, she may have feel your concerns were valid and she wanted to make her colleagues aware of the treatment that patients be receiving at this facility so they would not make future referral. Did you mark the letter as "Personal and Confidential"? If you did not do that, then you did not insist on the doctor that you did not want her to share it with others. Most all correspondence between a doctor and a patient are included within the patient's medical record. However, a medical record should only be accessible to those beside a "need to know" because they are actively involved in your treatment. It's not as if your medical record (and this letter) will be placed surrounded by the waiting room along with the magazines for other patients to browse while they wait to be see.
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/index.html