The case that I decided to speak about is the 2009 Medical Mutual of Ohio vs. Schlotterer. In this case a practicing physician was charged with being guilty of releasing sensitive patient medical records but, he made sure of all of them had physically signed what he thought would serve as an authorization to release form. So, how is it that he’s still being charged for releasing records that had a patient signature attached to it giving the authorization? It’s because “under R.C. 2317.02 (B) (1), medical records are generally privileged from disclosure” (Moyer, 2009), and instead of Dr. Schlotterer being safe and ensuring that his office was operating in an honorable manner he, just as most people do when they achieve great success but still not satisfied, got greedy. Dr. Schlotterer was able to feed his greed by way of his unknowing patients. He would have “consent forms” in his office that would read; “you consent to the release of medical information to Medical Mutual when you enroll and/or sign an application” or “when you present your identification card for covered services, you are also giving your consent to release medical information to Medical Mutual. Medical Mutual has the right to refuse to reimburse for covered services if you refuse to consent to the release of any medical information” (Moyer, 2009). To me that sounds like an involuntary agreement if a person wants to be seen by a physician in his office, which is not right because a patient has the right to decide whether or not they want their medical information floating from ear to ear at someone else’s discretion.
In the medical field there are corresponding codes for each and every type of procedure a Dr. or office may have to render to a patient but, there is one code that warrants the highest reimbursements to physicians and is only to be used where the provider faces significant and