Child's health records - psychiatrist involved

[stripes]

If a licensed, qualified therapist is involved with your daughter, that therapist should be able to request medical records as necessary from other professionals to help treat your daughter. Medical professional like to deal directly with other professionals rather than releasing information to third parties, especially when a) the records are psychiatric in nature; b) the third party is not a custodial parent and c) the records deal with conflicts or difficulties between the patient (D10) and the third party (you). They have no idea what you might do with the records or what use they might be put to. They don't know what they might be unleashing by giving you the records.

Doctors' primary responsibility is to the patient, and that will override their interest in helping you out. So while your order states that you should have access to the medical records, given the circumstances, you should expect resistance by the hospital staff. If I were a treating doctor, I'd be dragging my feet too on this one.

This is not to say that your request for the records is illegitimate. Your court order is pretty clear. I am just trying to provide some context as to why medical professionals may be reluctant to give you the information. I think you would probably be better off working through other professionals, like a registered psychologist (which I hope your therapist is) on this one.

[ByMyself]

If a licensed, qualified therapist is involved with your daughter, that therapist should be able to request medical records as necessary from other professionals to help treat your daughter.

But the therapist will still need the consent of the CP to get the medical records, wouldn't they? I am thinking, too, that the therapist would need to have the consent of the CP in order for them to act as therapist to D10 during this process. This is why I am asking for therapist to be involved on a supervisory basis only until my ex consents to anything more. The therapist's clinic does offer supervised access as a regular service.

[Serene]

Let me clarify a few things:

If you are in Ontario and you are a defined as a "parent" per the link and quote I attached no one needs the consent of the other parent to release any information on your children to you.

If you are NOT defined as a parent then yes, they need the consent of the other parent.

If you feel that your agreement provides you the entitlement/right to the information then you should file a complaint with the Information Privacy Commission. As we learned, many health professionals are confused about Privacy laws. They wait until the IPC discusses the situation with them and then proceed on their advice through the mediation process (which is really just a few phone calls between each of the parties).

As the IPC officer clearly told us when we just went through this: it doesn't matter why we want the information. We are either entitled to it or we aren't. We were.

[arabian]

I had posted earlier to get records from psychiatrist. While you may or may not be entitled to receive the information you are seeking, I don't believe anyone employed with the hospital will release the information unless it is upon the direction and approval of the supervising psychiatrist. You could make an appointment with the psychiatrist and find out directly from that individual what documentation you require. There are processes in place, for good reason, guarding patient treatment/information. The psychiatrist may have no problem releasing information to you but may want to personally give it to you and explain it to you as many people cannot properly interpret medical reports/data. Also keep in mind that the information you seek may contain confidential information about another individual.