Imagine your doctor becomes ill and is no longer able to practice medicine. Imagine he succumbs to dementia or has a stroke. Do you know what happens to your medical records?
If you live in Massachusetts, no one knows the answer because there are no laws governing the disposition of medical records when a medical practice goes under—for whatever reason.
Case in point: Dr. Ronald T. Moody failed to renew his medical license and abruptly stopped paying rent on his office space. He lost his license in December 2007 but continued treating patients without it until February 2008 when his landlord evicted him.
Right now, hundreds of Moody’s patients’ medical records are sitting in a storage facility, but the owner, Jim Appleyard, says he’ll have to destroy them because he needs the space. He contacted the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.
A board investigator visited the facility, but offered no help or advice because of a gap in state law. “She said, ‘I have no ability to move it, no budget to move it, and no place to store it,’ “ Appleyard said.
It’s another example of patients’ vulnerability to medical, criminal or financial identity theft. Mr. Appleyard seems like an honest person, but the same situation exists nationwide with no remedy.
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My doc HAD a stroke in Feb. I never thought about where my records went. Where will all this end. I know lot of people say credit protection is a scam, but I’ll risk it.
Good sense is a thing all need, few have, and none think they want.