A scenario. Mary works in a hospital health information management department, and Maureen, her friend, comes one day to pick up the medical records of a patient who is a client of the lawyer Maureen works for. Maureen, however, has forgotten to bring the client’s signed authorization form, though she assures Mary the form, which she saw the patient sign, is at her office. Since Maureen’s need for the form is urgent and there isn’t enough time to return with the form today, Maureen hopes to take the records and return with the form another day.
1) In light of what the code and HIPAA say how might Mary and Maureen best resolve the problem?
2) How might a code of ethics provide personal medical information more protection than HIPAA?
3) In what ways, if any, does HIPAA protect personal medical information where codes of ethics do not?