And the point is among the many that can be made due to the ambiguity--and therefore possibly unforseen consequences--of the HIPPA regulations. There is great possibility of varying--and unsubstantiated--interpretation.

I have been in offices in which staff has told me that HIPPS regulations prevent them from releasing my OWN medical records to ME. This is blatantly ridiculous, of course, and completely illogical, but I've had staff insist that it's true.

Many helath care personnel also seem to believe that HIPPA keeps them from having medical discussions of a general nature about patients in the aggregate, beyond mentioning anything identifiying about a particular patient. For instance, I've had staff tell me that HIPPA prevents them how many times a surgeon has performed a particular procedure. (That's just nervous, fearful, cover-your-*** excuse-ology.)

And then there are incidents of HIPPA leading to important medical info being kept from people it was never meant to--including situations described herein (the article is reprinted form the 7/3/07 edition of the New York Times):

http://www.ltcsbooks.com/Articles/HIPPA.htm

I've been writing for a while that one day HIPPA misapplication is going to be involved in a high profile lawsuit in which medical info that could not be quickly shared will lead to a patient's death, and have been one of many people urging Congress to re-draft and reconsider and clarify its provisions.

I give each new doctor I go to (not many, these days) a letter with my signature indicating that my medical records SHOULD--not MAY--be shared with "the following members of my family, friends/advocates, and the other listed physicians"; it's a two-pager now. It's annoying to have to do this, but it provides protection for all parties involved--and it doesn't leave room for excuses when I want testing results forwarded.

I was thinking about this team approach and how I feel its so important. I know for me as I have went for many opinions it was impossible to stick out of one hospital. I do wonder though if you sit down with the doc who you see the most and ask if that person could get feedback from the others? I know for ex in my eating disorder recovery my therapist is the head and communictes with the doc,psych,nutritionist. So I guess for me when I'm happy with each individual doc I will ask them to comunicate in a team. I will say even at Cleveland program the docs so on were not even on the same page with me and they all work together. To me its trying to do things quick but ends up making these longer. I know for me when I have caleed my neuro she doesn't even have my chart to refer to and has made mistakes with meds. Use your voice and ask for what you like. The worst they can say is no I guess.