Many years ago, in 2013, a friend of mine was subjected to a malicious Justice Examination Order (JEO) which saw him escorted by the police, with no warning whatsoever, to the mental health section of a well known QLD public hospital where he was subsequently held for weeks until the first obligatory mental health review tribunal (MHRT) where he won back his freedom. This forced detention was justified under the now defunct mental health act (2000) which was after much needed agitation by both ex-patients and advocacy groups, reformed to improve patient rights in 2016. Now judges such as the one that signed off on my friends JEO can only do so AFTER consultation with a medical practitioner to ensure such life changing decisions aren't just made by someone like a magistrate court judge with little actual understand of mental health.
Notwithstanding the destructive impact this experience had on his confidence, and familial relationships (the father lodged the JEO in the first place with collateral supplied by the mother), he didn't let it get him down, and after returning to his degree related employment for the next few years, decided eventually to pursue his calling in a health related field. To ensure his reputation and future ability to practice in this calling wouldn't be compromised by what was an unjustly created medical record, he changed his legal name before embarking on the new field of study. This saw him return to study in this area as a mature aged student before finally moving interstate to NSW where he has now successfully graduated and is qualified to pursue his calling in that health related field.
He'd always felt confident that although damning, his medical records at that public hospital were sufficiently confidential by virtue of his name change and move interstate, for him to not have to take any further action. Indeed the retention and disposal schedules for these public hospitals indicate that records are destroyed after 10 years which just passed recently. However, the privacy and confidentiality landscape has changed enormously since 2013. In 2018 an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) online database was rolled out federally meaning that even interstate practitioners can look up any patients records, and apparently this system is separate from the official My Health Record (MHR) that my friend opted out of at the earliest opportunity in late 2018.
Furthermore, on liaising with the relevant hospital to inquire about how his records may have been disclosed or accessed over the preceding 10 years, he learnt that 10 years is just the minimum retention time for medical records, and that this particular hospital retains electronic records indefinitely and continues to hold paper records (his) since 2001 with no plans to destroy anything in the near future. Realising that his record wasn't going to be deleted anytime soon, he then inquired about what he could do to ensure the confidentiality of that record to ensure that no random doctor or third party could access his records. In a series of evasive responses the hospital's director of info services seemed to indicate that a patient can't actually prevent practitioners from accessing his record if the record request is justified under certain grounds such as to aid in the ongoing care of their patient, or in the case of third party requests: legal proceedings / court subpoena's. They referred to confidentiality of their records as being governed by the Hospital and Health Boards Act (2011). On checking this act for the relevant sections he was shocked to discover that not only can practitioners access his record with little obstruction, but even carers, friends and parents can make enquiries on that record should they have an ongoing interest in the "welfare" of that patient...
Realising that his ability to keep his damning medical record confidential was a lost cause given the pathetic protections afforded by the governing legislations which were probably written before the advent of these interstate medical record systems, he inquired about having his record deleted outright noting that its now over 10 years, and as far as he's aware, it doesn't fall into any of the special exemption categories such as a hospital stay mandated by forensic orders. However even on this there's some uncertainty given the police involvement and the fact his detention was instigated by a magistrate court Justice Examination Order - Are these deemed as forensic orders??? My check of the Mental Health Act (2000) seems to indicate that an involuntary treatment order is not technically a forensic order, but perhaps there are those here with experience of the system that can confirm for sure?
This is where the evasive replies from the hospitals director of info services may have become downright misleading. In response to my friends query about record deletion they seemed to indicate that it is indeed possible if the record is 10+ years, but that it would need to be justified with consideration of the Health Sector (Clinical) records retention and disposal schedule, Qld State Archives Disposal Schedule, and only then with the approval of the relevant health service districts Chief Officer! A subsequent check of the veracity of this advice with a broad internet search seems to indicate that whilst possible, hospitals rarely delete records in case it leaves them vulnerable to some medical negligence claims down the track, and that the best one can hope for is to request the records be amended on the grounds that the record is either out of date (yes), incorrect (yes), or misleading (yes) for any future practitioners that might view it.
To complicate matters further, he rightly wants to get a log of how his record may have been disclosed or accessed before the record gets deleted. They responded to this saying that he can ask for that record by specifying who he things may have looked up his record illegally, but without knowing who might have looked it up, he asked can he not just ask generically for a list of all persons that may have accessed it given his rights to inquire generically as to his medical record privacy and confidentiality. They admitted that they can run reports that would show any/all persons that accessed the record, but gave little else. So there's now an added concern that a request for this access log could be deemed by the hospital a "legal" inquiry that might reset the 10 year retention timeframe for his medical record! I think he might be viewing this all a bit cynically but given their avoidant and evasive responses to date, its understandable. On the advice of others it does indeed seem plausible, however, with one of the better arguments being that: because his original inquiry wasn't responded to within the mandated timeframes, and then being escalated to the clinical director of the info services unit, it would have certainly involved the involvement of their legal department given the depth of ongoing inquiries that the director has then responded to.
So as you can see, my friend has a medical record that if continued to stand in its frankly unprotected state, will lead to reputation and credibility risk as he tries to make good on his new health qualification. What can he do to ideally learn who may have accessed the record together with then getting his record deleted, or at the very least, deletion of the record in case the request for access history may indeed reset the 10 year retention time frame...
Notwithstanding the destructive impact this experience had on his confidence, and familial relationships (the father lodged the JEO in the first place with collateral supplied by the mother), he didn't let it get him down, and after returning to his degree related employment for the next few years, decided eventually to pursue his calling in a health related field. To ensure his reputation and future ability to practice in this calling wouldn't be compromised by what was an unjustly created medical record, he changed his legal name before embarking on the new field of study. This saw him return to study in this area as a mature aged student before finally moving interstate to NSW where he has now successfully graduated and is qualified to pursue his calling in that health related field.
He'd always felt confident that although damning, his medical records at that public hospital were sufficiently confidential by virtue of his name change and move interstate, for him to not have to take any further action. Indeed the retention and disposal schedules for these public hospitals indicate that records are destroyed after 10 years which just passed recently. However, the privacy and confidentiality landscape has changed enormously since 2013. In 2018 an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) online database was rolled out federally meaning that even interstate practitioners can look up any patients records, and apparently this system is separate from the official My Health Record (MHR) that my friend opted out of at the earliest opportunity in late 2018.
Furthermore, on liaising with the relevant hospital to inquire about how his records may have been disclosed or accessed over the preceding 10 years, he learnt that 10 years is just the minimum retention time for medical records, and that this particular hospital retains electronic records indefinitely and continues to hold paper records (his) since 2001 with no plans to destroy anything in the near future. Realising that his record wasn't going to be deleted anytime soon, he then inquired about what he could do to ensure the confidentiality of that record to ensure that no random doctor or third party could access his records. In a series of evasive responses the hospital's director of info services seemed to indicate that a patient can't actually prevent practitioners from accessing his record if the record request is justified under certain grounds such as to aid in the ongoing care of their patient, or in the case of third party requests: legal proceedings / court subpoena's. They referred to confidentiality of their records as being governed by the Hospital and Health Boards Act (2011). On checking this act for the relevant sections he was shocked to discover that not only can practitioners access his record with little obstruction, but even carers, friends and parents can make enquiries on that record should they have an ongoing interest in the "welfare" of that patient...
Realising that his ability to keep his damning medical record confidential was a lost cause given the pathetic protections afforded by the governing legislations which were probably written before the advent of these interstate medical record systems, he inquired about having his record deleted outright noting that its now over 10 years, and as far as he's aware, it doesn't fall into any of the special exemption categories such as a hospital stay mandated by forensic orders. However even on this there's some uncertainty given the police involvement and the fact his detention was instigated by a magistrate court Justice Examination Order - Are these deemed as forensic orders??? My check of the Mental Health Act (2000) seems to indicate that an involuntary treatment order is not technically a forensic order, but perhaps there are those here with experience of the system that can confirm for sure?
This is where the evasive replies from the hospitals director of info services may have become downright misleading. In response to my friends query about record deletion they seemed to indicate that it is indeed possible if the record is 10+ years, but that it would need to be justified with consideration of the Health Sector (Clinical) records retention and disposal schedule, Qld State Archives Disposal Schedule, and only then with the approval of the relevant health service districts Chief Officer! A subsequent check of the veracity of this advice with a broad internet search seems to indicate that whilst possible, hospitals rarely delete records in case it leaves them vulnerable to some medical negligence claims down the track, and that the best one can hope for is to request the records be amended on the grounds that the record is either out of date (yes), incorrect (yes), or misleading (yes) for any future practitioners that might view it.
To complicate matters further, he rightly wants to get a log of how his record may have been disclosed or accessed before the record gets deleted. They responded to this saying that he can ask for that record by specifying who he things may have looked up his record illegally, but without knowing who might have looked it up, he asked can he not just ask generically for a list of all persons that may have accessed it given his rights to inquire generically as to his medical record privacy and confidentiality. They admitted that they can run reports that would show any/all persons that accessed the record, but gave little else. So there's now an added concern that a request for this access log could be deemed by the hospital a "legal" inquiry that might reset the 10 year retention timeframe for his medical record! I think he might be viewing this all a bit cynically but given their avoidant and evasive responses to date, its understandable. On the advice of others it does indeed seem plausible, however, with one of the better arguments being that: because his original inquiry wasn't responded to within the mandated timeframes, and then being escalated to the clinical director of the info services unit, it would have certainly involved the involvement of their legal department given the depth of ongoing inquiries that the director has then responded to.
So as you can see, my friend has a medical record that if continued to stand in its frankly unprotected state, will lead to reputation and credibility risk as he tries to make good on his new health qualification. What can he do to ideally learn who may have accessed the record together with then getting his record deleted, or at the very least, deletion of the record in case the request for access history may indeed reset the 10 year retention time frame...
