Ooh, this just burns me up. The whole point of HIPAA is that the PATIENT is the master of his/her medical information. To hear that a mother is having to cart a three-inch binder of medical records to-and-from her various appointments, becuase the docs are refusing to share information back-and- forth, is ludicrous. It is also a HIPAA violation. I urge this mom -- who is obviously no slouch in the take-charge category -- to take a look at www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/howtofile.htm . The Office for Civil Rights, in the US Health and Human Services Dept, is charged with enforcement of HIPAA. Mom does not have a private cause of action (she can't sue these doctors' offices) -- but the OCR can investigate, based upon her complaint. Aggregious violations call for criminal penalties to be assessed. Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC Wyndmoor, PA, USA _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with old friends and meet new ones with Windows Live Spaces http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwsp0070000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://spaces.live.com/spacesapi.aspx?wx_action=create&wx_url=/friends.aspx&mkt=en-us *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html