doctor's office accessing of scripts

[morte]

right about now I am ripshoot (george carlinism)....went for a work physical at a doctor's office that I have no prior relationship with and will have no further relationship with, and the MA looks at the screen and says "so, you take x and y meds....." I ask her how she knows this, since I didn't give permission nor a list, and she says if you use insurance to pay for it, we can see it......WITHOUT MY FREAKING CONSENT....! I got copies of the consents i signed, on the way out of the office, don't see it anywhere!!!!!....This seems like a hipaa violation to me, they had no need, hence no right. I am feeling ...angry, hurt, humiliated, stupid.......this on top of no steady job at the moment......really great freaking day I have had.....So, so much for privacy....

[Sadala, ADN, RN]

This is addressed more so to the group than to the OP:

I am a little confused by people saying that it wrong for a treating practitioner (doctor, etc.) to know the entire medical history before assessing/treating a patient. Perhaps I am missing an obvious argument, but just saying "medical histories are private, therefore they can be withheld from the doctor" makes no sense. The doctor is assuming a lot of liability by accepting a patient...they have the right to know the entire medical history and prescribed meds before they begin their own treatment.

Actually, I think the crux of much failed litigation by patients when an injury has occurred because the pt did not give necessary information (such as the use of street drugs not disclosed that then interact with another medication during surgery, causing an adverse outcome) is that an hcp is NOT responsible (legally or morally) for requested information that the pt refused to provide.

Anyway, I don't think that anyone (that I've seen) is saying that it is WRONG for a physician to have complete medical information. I think that there are people who are saying that pts should be able to decide when and to whom they wish to release their private medical information.