Two-thirds of physicians are skeptical of giving patients access to their “entire medical record,” according to a new poll conducted by the physician social network SERMO.
The full question was, “Should patients have access to their entire medical record ‒ including MD notes, any audio recordings, etc…?” While 49% of the respondents said such access should only be given to patients on a case-by-case basis, 17% flat-out said such access should not be given to patients under any circumstance. The remaining 34% said, yes, patients should always have access to their entire medical record.
Forbes dove into the results, quoting some of the comments left by physicians who filled out the SERMO survey.
“No they should not have access to their full records,” one respondent commented. “Many times they contain clinically useful information for patient management that may be offensive but true. Some people can’t handle the truth and that will lead to vilification of the physician.”
SERMO has not made its survey results public, but they were confirmed by Forbes.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.