Hospital records policy wanted

Press, 27 February 1986, Page 3

Hospital records policy wanted

The Canterbury Hospital Board wants a national policy on the release of medical records before it decides whether it will release them to be used for Daikon Shield claims.

The board yesterday set up a sub-committee to consider patients’ use of their own records to make claims against the intrauterine device’s manufacturer, A. H. Robins. The board’s chairman, Mr Tom Grigg, said that other boards, particularly the Wellington and Auckland Hospital Boards, should be consulted before any decision. ”... at least the three major boards should be doing the same thing,” he said.

American lawyers acting for New Zealand women claiming damages against Robins have criticised the board for not allowing full copies of the records to be released.

The New Zealand lawyer co-ordinating the claims, Mr Michael Okkerse, said yesterday that the full records were needed for the women’s claims to be evaluated by the United States court

Mr Grigg noted that any accredited lawyer, with the patient’s permission,

could come to the hospital and photocopy relevant parts of the medical record.

There was a problem, however, in releasing the records in their 'entirety, which was what Mr Okkerse wanted. Mr Okkerse said he was not sure what part of the records were necessary, and what were not. The records would be sent to the United States and assessed by lawyers there. “In any legal proceedings, decisions as to relevance can only be made by the lawyers handling the case in consultation

with their own specialists and that is particularly true in the case of the Daikon Shield.”

Records were being released now by Wellington Hospital and National Women’s Hospital in Auckland, he said, and so the board’s call for a "common policy” was a little late. Mr Okkerse said the matter should be cleared up fairly urgently, as the bar date set by the United States court for all claims to be lodged was April 30. “I think the sorting out of policy could come later,” he said.