lol - I am unable to view my son’s online lab data. That is because privacy rules dictate I must have his consent to view but he is too young to consent. Who writes these rules?
Parents and guardians are not able to register a person under the age of 16 in British Columbia or 18 in Ontario. The privacy of patients is of utmost concern to my ehealth, Excelleris, and the labs that perform your tests. They all understand the wish of parents to have access to their children’s records, but are bound by legislation that protects the rights of individuals, including your children. If you would like to get a copy of your child’s tests results, talk to your child’s health care provider or contact the testing lab directly.
Wow…I’ve never heard of such nonsense! Here in the US, we can view records/data and have access to everything we need, for our children under 18. I’ve never heard of a place that restricts parents permission to view their own children’s data! (The very children that they have to care for!!)
My condition wasn’t recognized until my levels were pretty wildly out of control with fasting levels at around 400 and A1C over 11… The symptoms that tipped me off to investigate was extreme and insatiable thirst…
The HHS HIPAA FAQ’s indicate that a parent is generally considered a child’s “personal representative,” which means access to records. However, if a state law provides otherwise (which it seems like is what’s going on in your case), the state law governs. If the state law is silent, then “the licensed health care provider may exercise his or her professional judgment to the extent allowed by law to grant or deny parental access to the minor’s medical information.”
In addition, a medical provider may choose not to treat a parent as a personal representative when the provider reasonably believes, in his or her professional judgment, that the child has been or may be subjected to domestic violence, abuse or neglect, or that treating the parent as the child’s personal representative could endanger the child.
Not true. At least in Oregon, once your child reaches the age of 13, they are allowed (required) to have private time with the medical provider where a parent is asked to leave, and they limit parents ability to see prescriptions for birth control as well as some mental health information/prescriptions. There is considerable latitude given to the physicians, who are able to block a parents access to this information.
Additionally, in the online system our provider has, we are not allowed to get access to his prescriptions due the above mentioned state law.
@Thomas, i know we have to sign and fax in some kind of written form to get online access to our son’s medical records…super annoying (and ironic considering that what we’re aiming for…is online access.)
It is ironic indeed. My son has even tried to give us permission to access the online system, to no avail. He is of course not old enough to give consent…
@Chris Isn’t a parent legally responsible to give or deny consent for his minor child when consent is required? So it should follow that you can give him consent to, well, give you consent to access his online files.
That should be sufficient to make their heads explode.
Doc, I agree with you 1,000,000% and since I have more “fight” in me for stupid rules, I took it all the way to the VP of IT at my medical provider, who told me, it is the way the system is architected, and we aren’t going to change it…
Where I live (Wisconsin), we also have to file a special paper form every year to have access to our minor children’s electronic records.
Since we have to file 4-5 every year (different e-doc networks), half the year we don’t have access to all their records in real time because we don’t do it in a timely manner (on Jan 1…).
