I'm seeking unbiased advice here!
My DS 15 was hit in the head at school by another student. The hit was intentional. DS was confused and could not remember details from his day, but he never lost consciousness. Because of his symptoms, we took him to the ER. They did a CT which was clear, but the ER doctor said he had a mild concussion and should not do PE for two weeks and could stay home from school for 5 days (she wrote him an absence excuse).
He returned to school the next day and took his final exams because he did not want to put them off until after the holidays, but still felt lousy for a few more days.
We and his teachers reported the incident to the school, so the guy who hit him was punished according to school policy. This incident has caused quite a bit of personal trouble for DS because a couple the kids who were his friends no longer speak to him; they blame him for the kid getting in trouble. But we are dealing with that!
Now, about a month after this incident, DS heard from another student (who knows all the kids involved) that her mother, who is an ER doctor at a different hospital and who has never treated my son, accessed his CT records and determined that it was not a "medical concussion" because the CT did not show scarring, that the doctor at that the original ER did not know what she was doing, and that my DS is a "baby."
I am upset that she was looking at his records when she had no business doing so and that she told her daughter about this as well.
Does anyone have advice about what I should do? Should I report this to the hospital? To the federal government as a HIPAA violation? Any thoughts?
Thanks.
I think that there is probably nothing going on here (just to reassure you). I think that this student got your son's goat. I am surprised that so many people are jumping on this with advice to report, report, report.
Physicians and nurses from another hospital - even in the SAME system - often have restricted access in our area. Even within a hospital they often are restricted to information on a need to know basis.
A physician from a totally different hospital would not have access to your sons CT results without your written release. They can't just call up and get them either.
I think that this is probably what happened.
1) Your son got hurt.
2) Your son returned to school.
3) This person teased your son and said the above to try to get at him.
4) How did she know what to say? The student who said this to your son probably guessed that his CT was clear. Or, more likely, he previously said that his CT was clear when he returned to school and she filled in the blanks.
More CT scans are clear than they are not clear. A lot of kids get hit during sports. Clear does NOT mean not hurt. This is a huge misconception.
I think that your accusations are going to be really - odd - when you go reporting them. But you are well within your rights to do so. It is just going to seem fishy and like you are jumping the gun. These are teenagers. They say things to dig at each other.
Like blackpug said - to release to another hospital - you have to sign a release.
And they keep records of everyone who accesses records within the same computer system.
As a provider - people don't spend all day just looking at random records of patients we are not actively taking care of. We are busy. Honestly, I don't really know the names of my daughter's fellow students beyond a select few that come to my home. That is it. I would have to have my DD spell their last names to know them for sure. If one of her fellow classmates got hit in the head - even if I knew that they got wacked - I wouldn't know the kids name or even what they looked like 5 minutes after I heard about it.
I'm too busy dealing with my own kids and own life that I would not have time to track something like this down for my own kid or family - much less a child I don't know. Physicians and nurses are so over scheduled that we do not have time to track something like this down for sheer pleasure.
I surely wouldn't talk about another persons kids with my teenage child and I can't magically read other x-rays or radiology scans at another hospital.
I'm just saying this from the view of a provider. I would be more worried if she said "my mom saw you in the hospital, and she said you were fine!!". Then I would be all over it.