Do patients have a right to know...

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

this will be on our ballot on election day. what do you think of it?

patients' right to know about adverse medical incidents

ballot summary:

current florida law restricts information available to patients related to investigations of adverse medical incidents, such as medical malpractice. this amendment would give patients the right to review, upon request, records of health care facilities' or providers' adverse medical incidents, including those which could cause injury or death. provides that patients' identities should not be disclosed.

full text:

be it enacted by the people of florida that:

1) statement and purpose:

the legislature has enacted provisions relating to a patients' bill of rights and responsibilities, including provisions relating to information about practitioners' qualifications, treatment and financial aspects of patient care. the legislature has, however, restricted public access to information concerning a particular health care provider's or facility's investigations, incidents or history of acts, neglects, or defaults that have injured patients or had the potential to injure patients. this information may be important to a patient. the purpose of this amendment is to create a constitutional right for a patient or potential patient to know and have access to records of a health care facility's or provider's adverse medical incidents, including medical malpractice and other acts which have caused or have the potential to cause injury or death. this right to know is to be balanced against an individual patient's rights to privacy and dignity, so that the information available relates to the practitioner or facility as opposed to individuals who may have been or are patients.

2) amendment of florida constitution:

art. x, fla. const., is amended by inserting the following new section at the end thereof, to read:

"section 22. patients' right to know about adverse medical incidents.

"(a) in addition to any other similar rights provided herein or by general law, patients have a right to have access to any records made or received in the course of business by a health care facility or provider relating to any adverse medical incident.

"(b) in providing such access, the identity of patients involved in the incidents shall not be disclosed, and any privacy restrictions imposed by federal law shall be maintained.

"© for purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

"(1) the phrases "health care facility" and "health care provider" have the meaning given in general law related to a patient's rights and responsibilities.

"(2) the term "patient" means an individual who has sought, is seeking, is undergoing, or has undergone care or treatment in a health care facility or by a health care provider.

"(3) the phrase "adverse medical incident" means medical negligence, intentional misconduct, and any other act, neglect, or default of a health care facility or health care provider that caused or could have caused injury to or death of a patient, including, but not limited to, those incidents that are required by state or federal law to be reported to any governmental agency or body, and incidents that are reported to or reviewed by any health care facility peer review, risk management, quality assurance, credentials, or similar committee, or any representative of any such committees.

"(4) the phrase "have access to any records" means, in addition to any other procedure for producing such records provided by general law, making the records available for inspection and copying upon formal or informal request by the patient or a representative of the patient, provided that current records which have been made publicly available by publication or on the internet may be "provided" by reference to the location at which the records are publicly available."

3) effective date and severability:

this amendment shall be effective on the date it is approved by the electorate. if any portion of this measure is held invalid for any reason, the remaining portion of this measure, to the fullest extent possible, shall be severed from the void portion and given the fullest possible force and application.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

Personally, I think the intentions are good, but that lawyers will take full advantage of the law and create lawsuits. I also don't believe that the average patient knows what he's reading when he reads his medical information, so the information is largely useless to him anyway.

[pricklypear]

That is really a tough one. Angie is right that the lawyers will take advantage of the information and most of the public will not understand the information. We'll be seeing commercials for law offices "if YOU have been notified of an error during your hospitalization, regardless of injury, call our offices. You are entilted to a settlement" I think there might be an increase in frivolous law suits over common, small incidents. On the other hand, if my loved one was seriously injured or died as a result of someone's mistake or negligence I would want to know.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Please see my note on the other two amendments, #3 and #8 (?) the three malpractice strikes and you are out.