Mary Smith has been a patient of Dr Williams from 1985 to the present time. During that time, she has had three children and been treated for a variety of conditions, including depression in 1986 and herpes in 1990. Mary and her husband, George, have filed for divorce. George wants custody of the children and is claiming that Mary has a medical condition that makes her an unfit mother. An attorney, acting on George's behalf in the divorce proceedings, has obtained a subpoena for Mary's medical records for the years 1995 to the present. Dr Williams's assistant, who is a medical records technician, copies Mary's entire medical record from 1985 to the present and sends it to the attorney. a. What negative effects for Mary might this error cause? b. Is there a violation of confidentiality? Why or why not? c. Do you believe that this is a common or uncommon error? d. Was it appropriate for the assistant to make a copy of any part of Mary's medical record?

Web Hunt (Page 227) Take this opportunity to review the website of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) www.ahima.orgLinks to an external site. and provide a description of the organization. In addition, review information available on the site regarding release of information on their website or other information related to the medical record / health information documentation and summarize the information found as it relates to an area covered in our material for this week.