ER didn't believe I was the mother

[SiliconDawn]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before speaking to a patient advocate. Also I'm sorry if this is the wrong sub-forum for this question, I couldn't find where it should go.

This past weekend my 15 year old was having chest pains. We live less than a mile from the hospital so my husband ran us over and dropped us off. I told the lady at the window what was happening and she gave me a form to fill out after which she said she couldn't take me as the parent. Apparently because 7 years ago my child had been in the ER with her dad and step-mom so they had to have one of them sign for her to be seen. Said this was due to HIPAA but I have worked in medical offices for years and this is new to me. Her father and I have joint custody and we both have rights to handle the medical care but they refused to do anything until they could reach her dad. So my teenager, with chest pain, was just standing in the hallway while they refused to believe I was her mom and called her dad instead. I asked what they would have done if they couldn't reach him, would they just turn her away, and they said no, they would treat her, so I asked why the delay then and why not just treat her???

The eventually pulled her into a room without me while the ladies at the desk kept trying to fight with me about it.

Was this because of HIPAA like they claimed?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before speaking to a patient advocate. Also I'm sorry if this is the wrong sub-forum for this question, I couldn't find where it should go.

This past weekend my 15 year old was having chest pains. We live less than a mile from the hospital so my husband ran us over and dropped us off. I told the lady at the window what was happening and she gave me a form to fill out after which she said she couldn't take me as the parent. Apparently because 7 years ago my child had been in the ER with her dad and step-mom so they had to have one of them sign for her to be seen. Said this was due to HIPAA but I have worked in medical offices for years and this is new to me. Her father and I have joint custody and we both have rights to handle the medical care but they refused to do anything until they could reach her dad. So my teenager, with chest pain, was just standing in the hallway while they refused to believe I was her mom and called her dad instead. I asked what they would have done if they couldn't reach him, would they just turn her away, and they said no, they would treat her, so I asked why the delay then and why not just treat her???

The eventually pulled her into a room without me while the ladies at the desk kept trying to fight with me about it.

Was this because of HIPAA like they claimed?

Did your son’s stepmom sign as the mother on the previous ER visit?

 

[SiliconDawn]

Her name was listed but I don't know if she listed herself as the mother or not, they wouldn't tell me.

I've never run into problems like this at other hospitals or doctor's offices (in other towns) and the four of us (me, my husband, the dad, and the step-mom) have all interchangeably taken the kids to appointments, er visits, etc. No problems until this past weekend.

 

[cbg]

I would be willing to bet money that this really was because of HIPAA. Where HIPAA is concerned, they have to err on the side of caution.

 

[FarmerJ]

Do you have a copy of your childs birth certificate , If you do i suggest you carry it with you when you go to see the hospitals administrator in person. I suggest you also treat this as is it was a hospital charting error that they must correct when they see your childs birth certificate.

 

[SiliconDawn]

I would be willing to bet money that this really was because of HIPAA. Where HIPAA is concerned, they have to err on the side of caution.

Can you point me to the part of HIPAA that covers this? I'm not saying you're wrong but I'd really like to find the specific bit because I've never run into anything like this in all my years working in a medical office. I fully admit perhaps something has updated since I last dealt with it though.

Do you have a copy of your childs birth certificate , If you do i suggest you carry it with you when you go to see the hospitals administrator in person. I suggest you also treat this as is it was a hospital charting error that they must correct when they see your childs birth certificate.

I do have her birth certificate. Going to speak to someone in person is a good idea, I was going to just email but taking the BC in person could be better.

 

[quincy]

Her name was listed but I don't know if she listed herself as the mother or not, they wouldn't tell me.

I've never run into problems like this at other hospitals or doctor's offices and the four of us (me, my husband, the dad, and the step-mom) have all interchangeably taken the kids to appointments, er visits, etc. No problems until this past weekend.

I would speak to the patient advocate.

It appears that there are errors in the information entered in the hospital’s computer database. This could be due to information gathered at the time of your child’s last hospital visit with her dad and stepmom.

Although it does not sound like the hospital worker at the desk handled the situation very well, she was probably following hospital protocol. Medical information cannot be released without authorization from the patient or, in the case of minors, authorization from the patient’s parent/guardian. Treatment also must be authorized by patient or patient’s parent/guardian.

It should be a simple data correction.

I hope your child is okay.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to HIPAA’s “privacy rule:”

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/index.html

 

[cbg]

Before I go paging through the entire HIPAA statute, I'm curious to know what you think the hospital did wrong. Should they just have accepted what you told them? Assumed you were telling the truth?

Or should they have confirmed that you were authorized to be making decisions for the minor child they were being asked to treat?

For the record, since HIPAA was signed into law I have yet to be seen by any medical provider where I wasn't asked to sign a release indicating who is and is not authorized to have my medical information.

 

[SiliconDawn]

I'll be back in a little bit to answer more, I'm making dinner now, just didn't want anyone to think I was ignoring you.

 

[quincy]

I'll be back in a little bit to answer more, I'm making dinner now, just didn't want anyone to think I was ignoring you.

You have our permission to make - and even eat - dinner.

The link I provided earlier has additional links to HIPAA Rules, but here is a link to the index:
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html

 

[zddoodah]

Was this because of HIPAA like they claimed?

No one here has any reason to doubt that the person who told you it was genuinely believed this. If you're asking whether the person's interpretation of HIPAA (or the interpretation of whomever told her that's what HIPAA mandated in the situation you described) was correct, the answer is no.

 

[quincy]

It appears very much to be HIPAA-related, if the hospital worker was questioning SiliconDawn’s relationship to the child.

 

[SiliconDawn]

Before I go paging through the entire HIPAA statute, I'm curious to know what you think the hospital did wrong. Should they just have accepted what you told them? Assumed you were telling the truth?

Or should they have confirmed that you were authorized to be making decisions for the minor child they were being asked to treat?

For the record, since HIPAA was signed into law I have yet to be seen by any medical provider where I wasn't asked to sign a release indicating who is and is not authorized to have my medical information.

I totally understand paperwork mistakes but they way to treated me and my daughter felt very out of line. She was standing there with chest pain and they were quibbling over papers. I wouldn't even have thought twice had it been approached like "Oh! We have different names listed as the only people that can sign for her. How about we get her into a room while we figure this out." They even admitted that if they couldn't reach her father to "give permission" they would still treat her, so why did they feel the need to make us stand in the hallway wasting valuable time (reminder... chest pain)? And they were super aggressive about it too, one of the women even came out from behind the desk to get in my face when I questioned why they needed to talk to her dad. Felt very aggressive and bullying, to be honest, especially since people working in a hospital should know to observe social distancing. Why did she need to get within a foot of my face to yell at me (yes she raised her voice) that she didn't believe me?

The entire thing was handled very poorly, I just wanted to get all my ducks in a row before speaking to the patient advocate. Figured I'd check about the HIPAA part of their claim because even if HIPAA covered this situation they definitely did several other things incorrectly.

 

[cbg]

I agree with you that it was handled poorly. But I really don't see any reason to assume that they were lying to you about what they were doing and why, even if their interpretation was incorrect.

I hope your daughter is feeling better.