Unfortunately there are/were no federal guidelines on patient records. Oklahoma during the 1970's had no guidelines whatsoever and if a doctor lost his/her license or quit practice, the records could be destroyed immediately. Likewise if a doctor sold his practice the new doctor(s) could take the records or destroy them. It was up them as to what they wanted to do since Oklahoma AMA did not set any standards. George gebasden@worldnet.att.net http://www.basden.com ---------- > From: IQHOPE@aol.com > To: GenTips-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Per Doctor's Records > Date: Saturday, June 06, 1998 11:41 AM > > I'm not sure what the laws are from state to state, but I was informed by a > doctor's daughter that all patient records must be kept by doctors until the > death of the doctor as a practical matter of any medical lawsuits against > them. I was also told that children have until 2 years past their 21st > birthday to sue doctors for malpractice--even if was for a procedure during > their birth! > This is what I was told per Virginia medical law, but it may vary from state > to state (I live in Virginia), or there may be AMA standard practices for > record-keeping for medical practices or medical organizations. I also believe > that records such as X-rays, etc., may be destroyed after a certain number of > years. > I work for a company in Norfolk, VA that stores records for businesses and we > have thousands of thousands of medical records on hand for local hospitals and > medical doctors...as well as legal organizations and other non-medical > businesses. If any doctor is on our client list, we are able to send the > doctor the records...usually within a few business days. We are also able to > zerox records for the doctors per their request. My company's name is Taylor > Document Management Company...so if your doctor stores records there, it's a > good chance he/she can get them for you pretty quickly. > > > ==== GenTips Mailing List ==== > Are you having trouble unsubscribing to the list? You can subscribe and unsubscribe to the lists we own from our web page at: > http://www.genrecords.com > > > > > > > > > > > > >