<- Back to the Legal Right of Commercial Divers
Special Medical Issues
Documenting and Logging Medical Symptoms
The most important legal right of a diver is the right
to obtain proper medical care and treatment from
a physician of his or her own choosing. By law, the
expenses of such treatment are the responsibility of the
diver’s employer. As mentioned earlier, in addition to the
expenses of the physician’s services or medical facility
expenses, the company must reimburse the injured diver
for the cost of transportation and lodging to and from the
physician or medical facility.
As a practical matter, documentation of injuries,
personality changes, and disabilities are of extreme
importance in any legal claim. Without proper medical
documentation, it is almost impossible to prove the
existence of an injury.
From the onset of the injury, it is strongly advised that
the injured diver maintain a daily log or diary, including
daily symptoms, improvements, disabilities, and mental
impressions. These entries are important in preparing
for future doctor appointments and for summarizing the
substance of the claim.
Additionally, and more importantly, these entries are
important in communicating to a treating physician all
the symptoms which the diver may suffer. Seemingly
unimportant symptoms may alert the doctor to a serious
condition. Maintaining daily logs is also important if
the diver suffers from mental lapses or memory loss,
which are often associated with serious CNS accidents.
An injured diver should include in the medical log all
test results as well as dates and reviews of doctor’s
appointments with all treating and consulting physicians.
It is very important to secure these documents.
Obtaining Medical Records
A patient has the legal right to obtain medical records
in most states. Oftentimes a diver is told that he or she
does not have the right to see, much less obtain, a copy
of medical records because the fees for the physician’s
services were paid by a diving company or its insurance
company.
Well, that isn’t the law, at least in Louisiana. Here’s the law:
Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 40 §1299.96.
Health care information; records
A. (1) Each health care provider shall furnish each patient,
upon request of the patient, a copy of any information related in any way to the patient
which the health care provider has transmitted to
any company, or any public or private agency, or
any person.
(2)(a) Medical records of a patient maintained in a
health care provider’s offce are the property and
business records of the health care provider.
(b) Except as provided in R.S. 44:17[dealing with
immunizations], a patient ………. shall have a right
to obtain a copy of such record upon furnishing
a signed authorization and upon payment of
[reasonable charges].
(c) If a copy of the record is not provided within
a reasonable period of time, not to exceed ffteen
days following the receipt of the request and
written authorization, and production of the record
is obtained through a court order or subpoena
duces tecum, the health care provider shall be
liable for reasonable attorney fees and expenses
incurred in obtaining the court order or subpoena
duces tecum. Such sanctions shall not be imposed
unless the person requesting the copy of the
record has by certifed mail notifed the health
care provider of his failure to comply with the
original request, by referring to the sanctions
available, and the health care provider fails to
furnish the requested copies within fve days from
receipt of such notice……………..
(d) A health care provider may deny access to a record
if the health care provider reasonably concludes
that knowledge of the information contained in
the record would be injurious to the health
or welfare of the patient or could reasonably be
expected to endanger the life or safety of any other
person………..
B. As used in this Section:
(1) “Health care provider” means a “health care
provider” as defned in R.S. 40:1299.41 or
a “state health care provider” as defned in R.S.
40:1299.39.
(2) “Patient” means a natural person who receives or
should have received health care from a licensed
health care provider, under a contract, express or
implied.
No one has a greater right to secure
information about one’s health than the
patient.
It is of no consequence that someone other than the
patient has paid for the charges of the health care
provider. Only with a thorough understanding of
one’s health care can a patient and their family make
informed reasonable decisions.
