These
sites include organizations that are looking out for your rights as
a patient! If you know of a great site, or notice that one of these
no longer meets the patient seal of approval, contact
us. At askapatient.com, we want to know the patient's opinion.
Your
Advocate: Public Citizen's Health Research Group
Includes information on petitions, testimony, and letters to the FDA
and other government agencies and committees regarding potentially
dangerous drugs on the market. See the Drugs
information page for these documents.
20,125
Questionable Doctors
Includes state-by-state statistics on disciplinary actions taken against
physicians by state medical boards. For names of individual doctors
disciplined, you have to buy the book ($20), but a number of statistics
(such as number of revocations, suspensions, type of offense) are
provided for the state your are interested in.
Verify
that Your Physician is Licensed and in Good Standing: Federation of
State Medical Boards
Link to State Medical Boards for Physician License Verification and
Disciplinary Actions.
Click on your state of interest, and find a link to that state's medical
board web site. Many of the state medical board web sites allow you
to look up a particular doctor, and some of them also post disciplinary
action on their web sites. This organization also maintains a "board
action data bank" that is not available to the public,
but the contents are explained on their web site.
Electronic
Privacy Information Center
Includes section on "Medical Record Privacy", and discussion
of such topics as national identification numbers, genetic information,
legislation, and research.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Includes Fact Sheets such as , "How
Private is My Medical Information?"
This informative document explains who (including employers, insurance
companies, etc.) has access to your medical records, and how you can
obtain a copy of your file if is contained in the "Medical Information
Bureau" database. It also explains how others may obtain copies
of your medical records, for instance for legal matters. Provides
guidelines on how you can protect the privacy of your medical records.
NY
State Dept. of Health
Provides
a useful brochure on your rights as a patient.
Center
for Medical Consumers
Contains articles
on consumer healthcare issues. Includes reports on volume of 38 surgical
and diagnostic procedures in 1998 in New York State hospitals.
The reports are intended to help consumers make more informed decisions
when they select their health care providers. Consumers can ask a
physician how many procedures she or he has performed in the last
year and compare that number to those in the reports. Procedures covered
range from bone marrow transplant to total/partial hip replacement.
Institute
for Health Freedom
Contains a September 2000 report, "Public
Attitudes Toward Medical Privacy" that reveals that an overwhelming
number of Americans are concerned about medical privacy.
United
Seniors Health Cooperative
This organization is an advocate for older adults health care issues.
Sponsors a Health Insurance Counseling program.
National
Coalition for Patient Rights
Part of Maine Civil Liberties Union.
Women's Health Care Rights: National Women's Health Network