privacy question

[Josephine Bonne]

Have any of you girls experienced any proplems with having gone to a doctor about hormones and/or transistioning with regard to being "put in the system" and having that information put on record for who ever? I am really paradoid about this issue.
Hugs and Kisses,
Josephine

[MJ]

hi josephine

well i can't say i have. if you mean doctors notes etc no i have change my legal name and all my id so. now when i get a call or someone wants to see mr c i just say sorry he does not live here anymore..

[Sharon]

I imagine my doctor has quite a bit in her files about me by now -- and much of it from just the past few weeks. The files should be private, but since I'm not hiding anything about myself any longer, then I'm not any more worried about this getting out than anything else they have written about me.

It's the druggist and the eighteen year old cashiers you should be more concerned about.

[Stephenie S]

Dear Josephine,

Sharon is right. It's not the doctor you should be worried about. He/she is required by HIPAA to keep your medical records private. This is not foolproof, but it is stressed pretty heavily by all regulatory boards and anyone violating this act risks loosing their license or worse.

Doctors have a long history of confidentiality. Have faith in yours.

Lovies,
Stephenie

[cindianna_jones]

I always ask my doctor to keep any mention of the "old" condition out of my files. There is no reason for my medical files to have that in there. Call me paranoid, but insurance companies will do what they will. Who knows what will be deemed illegal or uninsurable in the future?

While I may be open with my attending physician. I make sure nothing is in my file. When the nurse asks me about my last period ... I just answer "Well certainly not since I had my operation in 87." That usually takes care of it. My doctors have been very cooperative.

Cindi

[Joy Carter]

My whole medical record came out when I went to court against my employer. I had seen two counselors about my gender issues and they claimed to not be documenting our talks. But the lied and the whole record was asked for by the employers attorneys. I gave mine the permission to look after getting the go ahead from my GP. But my attorney advised me to drop my case because my medical record would then be a public record.

[Josephine Bonne]

My whole medical record came out when I went to court against my employer. I had seen two counselors about my gender issues and they claimed to not be documenting our talks. But the lied and the whole record was asked for by the employers attorneys. I gave mine the permission to look after getting the go ahead from my GP. But my attorney advised me to drop my case because my medical record would then be a public record.

As Joy talks about above is just what I am worried about; being in a management position I know that dispite what HIPAA may say, HR people and therefore upper management does know what medical actions their employees are taking! So with this said and the fact that I am not quite yet ready to trash a good career; how do you discretely go on a hormone regiment? I am not hiding it from my wife, but we both agree that I need to stay in the boy role at work for a little more time to help our savings to a level that I could take a cut and have a small consulting company that would allow me to be me; but I really want/must start hormones now! Instant gratification is not quick enought for this girl; just the way I am.
Thank all of you for your replies.
Hugs and Kisses,
Josephine

[older not wiser]

Well there is one way you can do it, go to another doctor and ALWAYS pay cash for the visit. Once you show a group medical card you are in the system and that system will turn around and bite you. BTW, if you decide to do this change your birthday also by two weeks but keep your birth year, list yourself as single. This will cover you in case of a "leak"

BonnieAnne

[Stephenie S]

Dear Josephine,

You could be treated for a "personality disorder" by your therapist.

You could be treated for "baldness" by your endocrinologist.

You could pay cash for your hormones through an online drug company.

This would keep your records about as clean as you could get them without doing nothing at all.

It is a problem and we need to work toward removing gender disphoria from the lists of unaproved procedures. Not just unaproved, sometimes it can void your whole insurance policy. Every doctor I have talked to denies that this would happen, but I have heard of it. Pretty scarey.

My therapist is on a commitee working towards getting Blue Cross, Blue Shield to aprove this condition.

Lovies,
Steph

[rachel1985]

Hey Josephine,

FYI, you are allowed, by law to have access to your records, however no one else does, so if your not sure of something, ask.
Your Doctor is the only person able to see your medical records, until you transfer doctors, or are referred, however when being referred, the next person will only be able to see the information they need, which is the reason your being referred.

Either that, or speak to your doctor about it, you guys are covered by the Official Secrets Act in the States, as we have something similar here in the Uk.

Hope that helps.

Rach

[Stephenie S]

It is true that you can have access to your medical records. It often is made extremely difficult. I once asked for a report of a visit to a specialist here in New England and I had to hassle for 4 months and many dollars with a company in California before I received a copy of a report that could have been handed to me on my way out. You do have a legal right to read your chart and it would be a good idea to keep a hard copy of the whole thing. Request that your physician send you a copy of every offfice visit and all lab work.

Now it is not true that only your doctor has access to your chart. It is available to all medical personel who are involved in your care. This would include nurses, radiology techs, physical therapists, nutritionists, social workers, insurance companies, etc., etc. You get the idea. But as I said before, distribution to unauthorized people is prohibited. This is heavily stressed by all regulatory bodies. Unauthorized sharing of medical information is a serious crime and anyone guilty of that will be disciplined and prosecuted. It's just that there are a whole lot of people who can gain access to it.

The law governing this in the US is called HIPAA. The Health Insurance Portability & Acountability Act of 1996.

HIPAA calls for severe civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance, including:
– fines up to $25K for multiple violations of the same standard in a calendar year
– fines up to $250K and/or imprisonment up to 10 years for knowing misuse of individually identifiable health information

Lovies,
Stephenie

[Kimberley]

Luckily, here in Canada the privacy laws are very strict. Personal information cannot be exchanged without the person's written consent. To do so is a felony. That includes insurance companies, lawyers, doctors anyone. An employer is even forbidden to say anymore than an individual worked for that company. Not even government agancies can exchange information among themselves. (I recently had a request from one agency inside a govt. department to exchange information with another agency inside that same department. Now that is good privacy.

Of course proving a violation is a whole other issue, but for the most part, it is adhered to.

When I read stories and fears like this I thank god I live where I do.

Kimberley.