On 10/28/05, Allan, Liz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In my experience, the records seldom sometimes - but seldom -
> 'disappear' when a medical practice does.  Usually the bankruptcy court
> controls them, and may place them in storage with a vendor.  Often a
> neighboring hospital may take control of the records, depending on the
> type of practice and relationship with the facility.  Check with the
> state department of health and/or the state medical society -- filing a
> complaint with them can assist.

I agree that they rarely disappear, but I've posted many stories this
past year in RAIN in which medical records were abandoned in situ. The
case that comes to mind was one involving mammograms in Pittsburgh.
Took months before the court was able to come to some sort of
agreement. I've posted other articles where the medical practice just
walked away from the building notifying no one. and then there was the
bankruptcy case in California involving hundreds of thousands of
medical records stored in a major commercial   records storage
facility. The owner threatened to auction off the records for
non-payment of fees.

Now technically these records didn't "disappear" but they sure weren't
available to the patients.


--
Peter Kurilecz
Richmond, Va

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