If you are a divorced but involved father, bring proof of your parental rights with you to every visit. During my first visit to Dr. Harris' practice, Dr. Harris' staff advised me that, at the request of my ex-wife, they would not be able to share any information related to the the services that they were providing to our daughters. When I advised them that my ex-wife and I equally shared parental rights and responsibilities, I was told that I would have to bring a copy of the court order for their files. While I can understand their desire to maintain patient confidentiality, to exclude a parent's access to their child's medical information based on nothing other than one parent's request, is absolutely wrong. I have to assume that had I made the same request, I would have been asked to substantiate my request before they would have granted it. Even so, Dr. Harris continued to see our daughters, with my blessing.Over the next 6-7 years, I noticed that Dr. Harris seemed to be… predisposed discounting my input and concerns, even when attempting to advise him of my own medical history when it was similar to the symptoms or diagnosis that our daughters had at that time.Finally, even my ex-wife agreed that the care provided by Dr. Harris was unacceptable, and so I submitted the appropriate form to have their medical records transferred to another practice. His staff cordially accepted the form, and other than stating, "that's strange, Mom never mentioned that the girls would not being seeing us anymore", they accepted the form and said that the records would be sent out the following day.When I followed up with the office to confirm that the records had been sent, I was told that by law they had 2 weeks to send the records out and that even then, they wouldn't be sent out because of an outstanding balance on the account. I advised the staff that, since our daughters were under their Mother's health insurance plan, I was not privy to any maters related to account balances, but that I would pay for the overdue balance right at that moment, because I needed to schedule an appointment for our oldest daughter, who was in need of medical attention. I was then told that they could not allow me to pay the bill because an outside company managed their billing. I then asked for their number and stated that I would happily contact them and pay them directly. The staff told me that if I could show them proof of payment, that they would have the records available for me to pick up on the second business day.I then called the outside billing company, as I was advised to do, and was told that they do not accept payments and that they didn't understand why I was asked to contact them. At that moment, I was placed on hold, and when the person came back to our call, I was advised that Dr. Harris' office had advised her that she was not allowed to share any information with me.I then contacted my family attorney who in turn contacted Dr. Harris' office, and within that 1 phone call, my attorney was advised that the records had already been copied but that since I hadn't proven that I had a right to pick up the records, they wouldn't release them. Once again, acting on behalf of my ex-wife without requiring that she substantiate her claim that my parental rights had been removed.Within 10 minutes of the conversation with my attorney and Dr. Harris' staff, I was at their office with the documentation in hand, and, after being charged $1 per page, the office manager reluctantly gave me the records.How shameful to hold medical records hostage when a minor is in need of medical care. How shameful to minimize the significance of withholding this type of information from a concerned parent based on the words of another parent. How shameful to stereotype a great dad, just because he's not the mom.
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