School wants us to sign a crazy medical release form..

[Jennasis]

So what if your employer asked for such unfettered access to your medical records? What if you became ill at work or needed emergency medical care? Wouldn't your boss having your medical records be a good thing too?


I thought not.

 

[SaraJayne]

If OP doesn't want to sign it, I have no issue. My only point is, this type of form is not unusual in schools, and youth sports. I know when I coached little league, we had a copy of the medical form on site, and we were required to carry a copy with us when we played away from our home fields.

I've had kids involved in youth sports the last 11 years and the same amount of years for school.

I have never seen the type of form the OP talked about.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

While I understand why these things would be alarming, I can also understand why a school would want this kind of permission.

When I started teaching 20+ years ago, I could hang a picture on the wall of my classroom with a note underneath saying "allergic to milk". We could put a picture up on the screen at a staff meeting and tell the entire staff "this is Mary, she has type 1 diabetes, if you see the following symptoms . . . ".

Now the pendulum has swung so far the other way that the school nurse can't tell us these things. We could have a non English speaking 3 year old in the classroom who is allergic to something, and unless the parents told us we might not know. To me, that's scary.

As far as why it says "all school personnel", our school has people with so many titles, and many of us wear different hats. I have a title that noone else has, and it says nothing about recess duty or administering standardized testing but I've done both. Our janitor is the person with the food service certification who fills in when the lunch lady is out sick, so he needs to know who gets gluten free and who is allergic to what. We have paraprofessionals and student teachers doing recess duty who need to know about bee stings and diabetes. I've seen kids cooking with the speech therapist, and the "Director of Response to Intervention" coaches a sport and might need to know about an orthopedic issue or what an asthma attack looks like for a certain child. Listing every title who might need to know something isn't realistic.

Someone also mentioned emergencies. In my career I've gone to the hospital twice with students. In both cases there was a period of about 5 minutes between the time when the 911 call was made and the ambulance arrived, and 5 more minutes between the time when the ambulance arrived and they left with me and the child. 10 minutes is plenty of time for the nurse to pull me aside and say "make sure the hospital knows he's taking X medication" or to send someone to pull a child's file to take with me. Frankly, in an emergency in a school there are often many people rushing in to try and help, keeping the busy can be a blessing!

I think this form goes a little too far, but I don't think it's a plot. I simply thing that they are trying to cover a wide range of possibilities.

 

[sam_gordon]

If OP doesn't want to sign it, I have no issue. My only point is, this type of form is not unusual in schools, and youth sports. I know when I coached little league, we had a copy of the medical form on site, and we were required to carry a copy with us when we played away from our home fields.

I've had kids involved in sports for the last 9 years. Every sport has asked for a medical release, giving organizers permission to make health decisions in the absence of a parent as well as not holding the organization responsible, blah, blah blah. Many have asked for insurance information. NONE have asked for medical records. Did the forms you carried include medical records or just a health history filled out by the parent.

I think this form goes a little too far, but I don't think it's a plot. I simply thing that they are trying to cover a wide range of possibilities.

I agree 100%.

 

[Pigeon]

I would never sign that. We have perfectly good health care providers of our own choosing. I don't want the school practicing medicine on my kids unless there is an emergency, when they can call an ambulance.

Identity theft is rampant. The less sensitive information given to strangers, the better in my opinion.

 

[MM27]

I don't see a problem with 1 and 2. There are people other than the classroom teacher that may need to have medical info on a child. Specials teachers spend time alone with students and something may happen during their class. Also, in the case of allergies, a lunch aide may need to know some info.

 

[tvguy]

I've had kids involved in youth sports the last 11 years and the same amount of years for school.

I have never seen the type of form the OP talked about.

Well I posted what the local schools use, very similar. And similar wording in our Little League signup form....but that was before HIPPA.

 

[sookie]

I can understand why your upset, but I honestly think you are reading too much into it. I don't think that they have malicious intent - I think that they want to be able to help your kid by telling a teacher about your kid. For instance - if your kid needs occupational therapy, should the nurse be able to talk to the occupational therapist and the teacher. YES. This form would help. They are trying to help your kiddo.


I think a lot of people get really worried that the form is going to be used against them - people are so protective these days. It is really sad - both ways (school and parents) that we have to feel that way.

Here is my next question - do they have a school based clinic? If so that may be the reason they have this addendum.

 

[sookie]

OK, lets say a child gets stung by a bee at recess. How does the nurse having access to medical RECORDS helpful? If the child is allergic to bees, that should already be disclosed. If the child is allergic but the doctor doesn't know, that doesn't help. Do you want the nurse to wait to administer first aid until SHE gets the records? Shouldn't she just call the pediatrician, explain she's the school nurse, "Suzy" got stung by a bee and what should she do?

You were talking to another person, but I think that this request (that the nurse can request records if medically indicated) is really reasonable. For instance, I have a child that is getting worked up for a disability - it sucks! Anyway, the records that the school could gather in this instance could be helpful. In the meantime - for my school system - I'm having to hand carry everything. I wish they would take the time to request things.

Another common request I could think of would be that if a kid had been injured or seen in the ER and needed clearance to be back in school - if the parent forgot to get the note, the nurse could contact and just have the records faxed directly to the school, saving the parent time.

I think that they are trying to gain access for shot records and things. Think of all the people who never bother to turn in shot records like they are supposed to - maybe they are trying to help out those kids. But of course, if they never turn in shot records - they will probably never turn in these forms. Go figure.... (logic)

 

[HelenePA]

I can understand why your upset, but I honestly think you are reading too much into it. I don't think that they have malicious intent - I think that they want to be able to help your kid by telling a teacher about your kid. For instance - if your kid needs occupational therapy, should the nurse be able to talk to the occupational therapist and the teacher. YES. This form would help. They are trying to help your kiddo.


I think a lot of people get really worried that the form is going to be used against them - people are so protective these days. It is really sad - both ways (school and parents) that we have to feel that way.

Here is my next question - do they have a school based clinic? If so that may be the reason they have this addendum.

My oldest get OT in school and they've NEVER asked for permission to see all of her medical records or have access to all of her medical records. (which btw are thousands of pages long. I would laugh if they actually wanted to have copies of them) We did give access to her records to the school Dr (she actually isn't in the school or in a clinic in the school she's called in to help diagnose and write IEPs) who saw her before she got her IEP. The school nurse doesn't have access to them, no one at the school does.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't see a problem with 1 and 2. There are people other than the classroom teacher that may need to have medical info on a child. Specials teachers spend time alone with students and something may happen during their class. Also, in the case of allergies, a lunch aide may need to know some info.

I agree there are situations teachers, administrators, lunch workers, etc need to know about kids (allergies for one). BUT, if parents don't disclose the information, the only way releasing medical records would help is if the nurse reads ALL the medical records. They can't read all the medical records until they request them and get sent from the doctor's office. How long would that process take (requesting, receiving, and reading) even if it was allowed?

 

[kamik86]

I agree there are situations teachers, administrators, lunch workers, etc need to know about kids (allergies for one). BUT, if parents don't disclose the information, the only way releasing medical records would help is if the nurse reads ALL the medical records. They can't read all the medical records until they request them and get sent from the doctor's office. How long would that process take (requesting, receiving, and reading) even if it was allowed?

I agree with this ^

Now if the form said that the nurse can share any information the parents put in the file with teachers if deemed medically necessary I could see that. That would allow the nurse to let the teacher going on the field trip that isn't little Amy's normal teacher know that she is diabetic, or alergic to bees, etc.

However allowing the nurse to get information the parents didn't write down and then share that info... nope. Because even if my child at that time had nothing in the file I didn't want others to know about I couldn't be sure they never would.

I would also see it as helpful if the school provided a list of things that would be helpful for them to know.

 

[PizzieDuster]

A school nurse reading medical records for a student goes deep into trouble. Legally. If Johnny has a reaction, they call the parents, call 911. If Bill at work has chest pains, call 911. My sister is a nurse at a junior high. She goes by the forms, the information she has. The parents contacting her. I can't imagine her reading medical records, as if she's going to make a medical decision besides dialing 911.

Any time I go to my doctor office/hospital, etc. and they give me the arbitration form that says I can't take them to court - I always write and sign a different name with a different date. Looks nothing like my signature. Not my fault the gals never sign and witness my copy and never catch it. And they always give me my copy back.

I was hospitalized for a week last May and several times after that. Eight months later I received a letter from the hospital informing me that my personal health information "may have been compromised and we are taking immediate action to protect your privacy".

"We discovered we accidently made your personal health information acessible to disclosure by allowing outside search engines to have access to certain files on our internal computer network."

And more "Your information was contained in files that were intended to be maintained securely and used only by us. However, our security settings were incorrect and allowed the data to become publicly accessible on the internet."

And yet more "This information may include the following: Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure, lab results, smoking status, diagnoses lists, medication allergies, advance directive stats and demographic information which may specifically include your spoken language, ethnicity, race, gender and birth date. We have not identified if any of your financial information, such as your social security number or other financial data, were disclosed or made publicly acessible."

..."our security settings were incorrect and allowed the data to become publicly acessible on the internet."

They then gave information for an identity theft company they have partnered with and the numbers for 3 credit reporters.

Since then, I have not received any invoices of my hosptial stays. Prior to this I was getting invoices twice a week and phone calls as, obviously, I owed thousands. In double digits.

I never signed an arbitration agreement correctly. It's not like they just released I checked in. On this date. And I'm allergic to tylenol. I know there will soon be a "class action" but I'm just happy with not receiving any more invoices. And learning that when filling out forms, you really need to think about the information you are giving. Really, I have not received one bill/invoice since that letter. I'm sure they took the Blue Cross money and thought 'all is well'.

I'd be very wary of giving anyone access to any one of my family member's health information.

I'd be down in the office speaking to the nurse, the principal, the teacher, anyone else IN PERSON. Then I would document it with a follow up letter

 

[luvmy3]

I think a lot of people get really worried that the form is going to be used against them - people are so protective these days. It is really sad - both ways (school and parents) that we have to feel that way.

For me personally it has nothing to do with being (over) protective. I wouldn't have an issue with signing #1 or #2, but #3 takes it too far. There is no reason for the school to have access to those things, whether they intend to use them or not. Its the principle of the matter that they seem to think they are entitled to personal medical info. I as a parent will inform the school of anything they need to know regarding my child.

 

[tvguy]

So what if your employer asked for such unfettered access to your medical records? What if you became ill at work or needed emergency medical care? Wouldn't your boss having your medical records be a good thing too?


I thought not.

Well, I sure hope the employer of the commercial jet I am on, the employer of the big rig next to me on the freeway has access to the complete medical record of that employee. And I suspect the employer of most Pro Athletes has complete access to their employees medical records.

As for me, well.........if my employer wants to read about my colonoscopy........I really don't care. Pretty boring stuff.

 

[tvguy]

A school nurse reading medical records for a student goes deep into trouble. Legally. If Johnny has a reaction, they call the parents, call 911. If Bill at work has chest pains, call 911. My sister is a nurse at a junior high. She goes by the forms, the information she has. The parents contacting her. I can't imagine her reading medical records, as if she's going to make a medical decision besides dialing 911.

Any time I go to my doctor office/hospital, etc. and they give me the arbitration form that says I can't take them to court - I always write and sign a different name with a different date. Looks nothing like my signature. Not my fault the gals never sign and witness my copy and never catch it. And they always give me my copy back.

I was hospitalized for a week last May and several times after that. Eight months later I received a letter from the hospital informing me that my personal health information "may have been compromised and we are taking immediate action to protect your privacy".

"We discovered we accidently made your personal health information acessible to disclosure by allowing outside search engines to have access to certain files on our internal computer network."

And more "Your information was contained in files that were intended to be maintained securely and used only by us. However, our security settings were incorrect and allowed the data to become publicly accessible on the internet."

And yet more "This information may include the following: Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure, lab results, smoking status, diagnoses lists, medication allergies, advance directive stats and demographic information which may specifically include your spoken language, ethnicity, race, gender and birth date. We have not identified if any of your financial information, such as your social security number or other financial data, were disclosed or made publicly acessible."

..."our security settings were incorrect and allowed the data to become publicly acessible on the internet."

They then gave information for an identity theft company they have partnered with and the numbers for 3 credit reporters.

Since then, I have not received any invoices of my hosptial stays. Prior to this I was getting invoices twice a week and phone calls as, obviously, I owed thousands. In double digits.

I never signed an arbitration agreement correctly. It's not like they just released I checked in. On this date. And I'm allergic to tylenol. I know there will soon be a "class action" but I'm just happy with not receiving any more invoices. And learning that when filling out forms, you really need to think about the information you are giving. Really, I have not received one bill/invoice since that letter. I'm sure they took the Blue Cross money and thought 'all is well'.

I'd be very wary of giving anyone access to any one of my family member's health information.

I'd be down in the office speaking to the nurse, the principal, the teacher, anyone else IN PERSON. Then I would document it with a follow up letter

All boils down to your need for privacy. And the sad reality is, some kids will have posted some of that medical information on their Facebook page.

 

[HelenePA]

Well, I sure hope the employer of the commercial jet I am on, the employer of the big rig next to me on the freeway has access to the complete medical record of that employee. And I suspect the employer of most Pro Athletes has complete access to their employees medical records.

As for me, well.........if my employer wants to read about my colonoscopy........I really don't care. Pretty boring stuff.

Ah but some of us dont have kids with just boring stuff.. and some of it isn't any of their business to be honest Like I said my daughters files would be thousands of pages long and I'm not exaggerating.

 

[Social Worker Sue]

As for me, well.........if my employer wants to read about my colonoscopy........I really don't care. Pretty boring stuff.

What if your 15 year old daughter was raped and had an abortion?

What if your 14 year old son attempted suicide?

What if your 7 year old son is doctoring for bed wetting?

What if your 17 year old daughter has an STD?

These things are very private in most families and it is up to the family to treat them in a private manner if they wish to. I can tell you, I would NOT want this information to be readily available to certain school nurses who live in small towns. I know of a certain yappy school nurse that should lose her job for her gossip. Just what she talks about to the teachers makes me cringe. And even if she does lose her job, the damage is done. The word is out. A private family matter is no longer private.

You could not PAY me to sign that form, OP.

 

[RitaE]

Originally Posted by tvguy
Well, I sure hope the employer of the commercial jet I am on, the employer of the big rig next to me on the freeway has access to the complete medical record of that employee. And I suspect the employer of most Pro Athletes has complete access to their employees medical records.

As for me, well.........if my employer wants to read about my colonoscopy........I really don't care. Pretty boring stuff.

My husband has a sensitive and critical job and his complete medical files are not available to his employer. He is examined by an appointed Physician yearly and the Physician then signs a clearance stating there is no known detrimental medical reasons he should not be allowed to remain in employment.

They would also be notified if he failed his drug testing or whatever. They don't have access to his cholesterol levels. The FBI (who performs most of the legwork for issuing his Security Clearance) has access to his family mental health history and the fact that his Father was a rampant alcoholic, his employer does not.

 

[Bob NC]

What if your 15 year old daughter was raped and had an abortion?

What if your 14 year old son attempted suicide?

What if your 7 year old son is doctoring for bed wetting?

What if your 17 year old daughter has an STD?

These things are very private in most families and it is up to the family to treat them in a private manner if they wish to. I can tell you, I would NOT want this information to be readily available to certain school nurses who live in small towns. I know of a certain yappy school nurse that should lose her job for her gossip. Just what she talks about to the teachers makes me cringe. And even if she does lose her job, the damage is done. The word is out. A private family matter is no longer private.

You could not PAY me to sign that form, OP.

If you have a REASON not to sign the form, by all means it shouldn't be signed.

I'm sure the overwhelming majority of school kids don't have thousands of pages of medical info they don't want shared.

How come so many opinions on the DIS have to be made from the most extreme stances?

If your 14 year old has a history of sexually transmitted diseases, of course you won't share that.

We will not be donning our tin foil hats because my son has a history of a couple broken bones and a few mild allergies.