Red Dot Sanctions

RED DOT RESULTS IN HIPAA SANCTIONS

Most health care providers and attorneys have worked diligently to achieve compliance with new federal privacy standards known as the "HIPAA" regulations. Sadly, one dentist's office didn't get the memo. The office had placed a large red dot on the outside of a patient's chart. On the red dot, in black ink, were the letters: "AIDS." Predictably, federal agents sanctioned the office.

I've seen my chart at the local hospital where I tend to end up every few years. In large red magic marker letters is the message:

"Don't Give This TRIAL LAWYER Codeine!!!”

The notation is doubtless in response to numerous episodes in which nurses have given me codeine despite my insistence that the drug will make me very, very sick. The nurses usually try to assure me that the particular pill they are offering doesn’t contain codeine. I then pull out my pocket copy of the latest drug reference book to show them that Percocet actually does have codeine in it. This tends to have a calming effect on both the nursing staff and the risk management officer who, by this time, has been called in.

After my most recent encounter with the drug, masquerading as hydrocodone, I apparently made some comments that upset the medical staff. Hence my “red dot.”

If there are any HIPAA police reading this, PLEASE do not make the doctors remove the warning from my chart. They put it there with my consent.