Can a physician withhold a patient’s record for a past due balance (for services rendered)?
No. The Office of the Indiana Attorney General filed a Complaint with the Indiana Medical Licensing Board against Shashi Puttaswamy, MD, in June 2006 alleging that withholding patient records for a past due balance violates physician standards of practice. The Complaint cited the Indiana law that states, “On written request and reasonable notice, a provider shall supply to a patient the health records possessed by the provider concerning the patient.” On April 24, 2008, the parties stipulated that physicians are responsible for having knowledge of the legal standards of conduct and practice and that the doctor knowingly violated that law. On May 5, 2008, the Medical Licensing Board approved the stipulation and ordered the physician to pay the costs of transcribing the action. (The physician would have also had to pay for her own legal fees and appeared before the Board multiple times before this matter was resolved.) Similarly, AMA Ethical Opinion 7.02 states medical records should not
