Sherry Macken is a patient at the office where you work. She plans to move out of state and insists on taking her original (paper) patient medical chart with her. The office manager refuses to release the record to her. Ms. Macken has just faxed a letter threatening to involve her brother-in-law, a personal injury lawyer whose ad appears on the back cover of the local phone book, if she does not receive her records within 1 week. Who legally owns the health record, and how can this patient’s situation be resolved amicably?

Legally, it happens to be the office where Sherry Macken works in that owns the original health records. This is because, before Sherry registers as a patient, her records does not exist but was created for her by the office immediately she registered. This records (medical charts) where used to keep track of her treatment and recovery process and it is meant to be kept in the office for future reference purposes.

To resolve this situation amicably, there is need for the office where Sherry works to give her a colored copy of the original document (record) for her own purpose while still retaining the main original copy.

Explanation: