Obtaining Medical Records for a Personal Injury Case

Your Right to Medical Records

The federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) gives patients the right to obtain a copy of their medical records from any medical provider, with a few exceptions. According to HIPAA, you may request:

• Your own medical records.
• Someone else’s records if you are their legal guardian. Likewise, if you are appointed as the legal guardian of another adult or child, you have the legal right to get that person’s medical records.
• Someone else’s records if you are a designated representative. You may request someone else’s medical records if they give you permission, in writing, to act as their representative in accessing records. For example, if your elderly parents designate you as their representative, medical providers must provide you with your parents’ medical records if you make a request to obtain them.
• Your children’s medical records, with some exceptions. For the most part, parents and legal guardians can obtain their children’s medical records. There are a few exceptions to this rule. A parent may not get a child’s records if: the child has consented to medical care and parental consent is not required under state law; the child gets medical care at the direction of a court; the parent agreed that the minor and the medical provider have a confidential relationship
• Records of deceased persons in certain circumstances. If you are the personal representative of an estate—either designated by a will or appointed by a court to settle a deceased person’s affairs—HIPAA gives you access to the deceased’s medical records. In addition, if you are related to a deceased person and certain information in that person’s medical file relates to your own health, HIPAA lets you access that information.