[JustTheTruth]

The fact is - and a fact that is not going to change in anybody's proposed rules - is that you do not own your medical records - those records legally belong to the doctor or hospital who created them. You have rights to copy or access them, but they are not "your" records. Like it or not, that is the way it is.

[dalereed]

"is that you do not own your medical records - those records legally belong to the doctor or hospital who created them"

They shouldn't have a right to create them without my permission.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Mmmm, actually that's not what I've been taught. I'm an RN and I have always been told that a patient's medical record is just that; it belongs to them. Now, in reality this might be a different case. I've never had anyone try to completely remove all their documents, but if you get a new doctor or move to a different area the original facility will mail everything to the new practitioners.

Hospital administrators are strange that way, the law may say one thing but they will interpret anyway they see fit.

[Jay W]

The fact is - and a fact that is not going to change in anybody's proposed rules - is that you do not own your medical records - those records legally belong to the doctor or hospital who created them. You have rights to copy or access them, but they are not "your" records. Like it or not, that is the way it is.

You are right. In a similar way, "your" Social Security Number is not actually yours, either! It belongs to the government, not to you. It is their number assigned to you. That's why attempts to prevent the SSN from being used for purposes of identification (remember, it was supposed to NOT be used for that purpose) have been a losing battle.