Coat Rack

did you look at any of the paperwork? (im always curious to know what they think is not "important".

I would love to go through all this old paperwork

MORE files! I really want to see what they say!

In the state I live in they have the HIPPA LAW (patient privacy act) Guess they don't here..... Would be cool to see but, wouldn't wan't anyone loking at my family or friends records. Glad I don't have to worry about that.

Kty,

HIPAA is a federal law and applies in all states.

Well thank you Lynne.. I don't work in the medical field.

Since HIPAA has come into effect we have had more training on the various aspects of HIPAA than any other concept that has ever been in the field, I swear to the heavens. :-( It is gruesomely boring and technical, but they threaten you with large fines, so we have to learn it.

As a clinical psychologist I always had to honor confidentiality, both while the person was "under my care" and even after they left, unless they signed a waiver of some sort. But even then you get into the habit of not discussing people who have been in your care such that they could ever be identified, and even when you have permission to discuss a specific case you always alter the details just enough to protect the person's identity.

And kty, you are right - I can't imagine anything more embarrassing than finding myself described in all my glory somewhere by name when my life wasn't working out well. That's why I am tickled and most appreciative that Motts doesn't divulge what he has found in these places. It is excruciatingly difficult to be in such a spot that you need to go (or be taken) somewhere for help, and then to think that people would be reading your personal records years later describing when you were at your darkest point in time - this would be the ultimate humiliation. To me that is much more "abusive" than many of the things that seem to bother people if they aren't familiar with this field.

Lynne, thanks again..... and thanks to Motts :-)

With them leaving those files,etc like that it kind-of gives me the impression that they really didn't care about the people being treated there---pretty sad.

when was this picture taken and was removal of records, etc. completed at the time it was taken?

HIPAA is pretty new, so if this area clsoed down before HIPAA it wouldn't apply. I agree that they should have had more regard for their patients and should have taken these out, but at the time it might have been considered normal to leave those behind, and not insensitive at all. These might not have even been considered confidential at that time. It might have been cost prohibitive to move them to a new location, so they were left behind.

Then again, there is the possibility that this is administrative paperwork (order forms, employee info, etc) that truly wasn't important at all. It's like Lynne says, these employees were truly (usually) doing the best they could, and wouldn't abuse patients like this on purpose...

HIPPA is fairly new, and given the fact that most of these places didn't seem to care much about the patients themselves, why would they care what happened to their records? If you take a moment to think about what was done to some of the people in these places, the paperwork is nothing.

I think it has more to do with the fact that the former owners wouldn't want to pay their staff to remove records knowing they are closing (Overtime and all). The staff assumes that the owners will take of it.

They are supposed to destroy all records, including those left behind by patients a/k/a Kim Carnes albums.

i agree in a way but then think about this .. this is history ... perhaps someones missing family member unaccounted for here could lay their answer as to what happend to them and why ... what do you think ? justicedreams24@aol.com email me let me know

i was a patient in a more modern facility for a short period of time but have been ill and seeing shrinks for over fifteen years. i have often wondered where my information is. when i ask, their answers never make a lot of sense...the hospital where i was shut down...where did my records go?? anyone who knows how to find this out, i'd appreciate any comment.

I wonder if the coat rack thinks it's the last of it's kind. The Last LIttle Coat Rack That Could.

were soo bad, i have to know what the files said to!!

I doubt very much that these are confidential patient files. Doctors, therapists, psychologists, social workers and other human services professionals have always had patient confidentiality as a central tenet of their professional code of ethics. So even though HIPPA is only a few years old, earlier procedures would still have guaranteed confidentiality. In my state we found that our state regulations, which predated HIPPA, were already stricter than HIPPA. I am sure many other states were in the same situation. The stricter standard always prevails. States are usually very careful about storing the records of the old facilities and don't just leave them laying around an abandoned site. When confidential records are found, it is likely that they were the "personal" files of a particular staff person, not the patient's "official" record (yes, the same confidentiality standards apply to "personal" files, and the copies or notes in "personal" files should either have been shredded and burned, or incorporated into the "official" file). Facilities are required to keep all kinds of records, not just patient files. The documents in this room could very well be fire drill reports, petty cash accounting, menus, maintenance work orders, staff meeting minutes, contingency plans for power outages or severe weather, the facility policy manual, MSDS sheets for all the chemicals used in cleaning and maintenance, accounts payable and receivable, count sheets for controlled substances, furniture inventories and disposal reports, and on and on and on...

At the time many of these places were operating there was no interweb so confidentiality really wasn't as important.
Assuming you found the file of "Fred Bloggs" 20 years ago unless you knew him or he was somehow famous you probably wouldn't track him down or have any way to even publicize this info.
So in the end the information didn't matter it was like a story on a floor. Nowadays you can search for people on the web, or post a picture or scan of the medical record and then it's easy for someone to put 2 and 2 together. That's why confidentiality is now much more vital than before.