Patient Access to Medical Records: A Review of the Literature

During the last two decades, the physicians' exclusive control of medical information has eroded. In this paper, the literature on patient access to medical records is reviewed and the positive and negative results of the proposal to give patients complete access to their medical records is evaluated. The author outlines the history of the patient access issue and, from her review of the literature, concludes that the important question of whether patient access to medical records can cause harm remains unanswered. The author argues that the issue of patient access to medical records is a challenging one which deserves the prompt attention of researchers. (AMRJ 1988, 18(3) 102–106).