QUESTION
If my daughter's mother makes her records private for a hospital visit am I responsible for the bill?
Asked on Jan 26th, 2015 on Family Law - Virginia
More details to this question:
My daughter's mother took our daughter to the hospital when she was sick. She informed me she had her at the hosptial. I was not able to get to the hospital before my daughter was released. When I contacted her trying to find out what the hospital said, she was very short with me. So I went up to the hospital to see if I could speak with the nurse/doctor to get the diagnosis. When I got to the hospital I was told no one by that name was there nor had been there. I informed them that I knew she had been that the mother had informed me and my parents where there but could not be told anything either. They apologized and said they could not tell me anything since her records were made private. I have received the hospital bill from the mother, I do have a % of the medical bills I have to pay, but I wanted to see if I am responsible for this bill since the mother made the records private and I could not get any medical information on my daughter about her diagnosis?
1 ANSWER
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You need to review your Court Order that spells out Custody and Visitation. There should be a reference in the Court Order to you, as the father, having access to your daughter's medical records. If the hospital still will not allow you to have a copy of the record, you have a number of possibilities. (1) If the Court Order says you have access to medical information and the hospital will not allow it, you can file a Motion for Show Cause against the mother to have the Court order the mother to grant you access to the medical record. (2) If your Court Order does not state you have access to medical records, you can do a Motion to Amend your Custody and Visitation Order to ask for a provision granting you access to the recorrds. Unfortunately, you are liable pursuant to your Child Support Order to pay a percentage of unreimbursed medical expenses. This is regardless of whether the mother is cooperative about information or not.
Answered on Feb 12th, 2015 at 10:03 AM