Healthcare

I think I have the Right (Privacy act 1974?)of not giving my Social Security Number when I the Doctor, Pharmacy, Hospital. Of course I am legal, decent and retired. My Health Insurance gave me a Card with my name and an ID number. I'm a retired physician myself and I used to "bill" the insurances / governement. I know the SSN number is not needed to file the claims. I call recently those "billing departments of Insurances, medical billing schools, to see if today the SSN is required: It is NOT. My main concern is: IDENTITY THEFT. I was already victim of fraudulent use of my Discover card. I already was denied to fill a prescrption in one Pharmacy. In another instance at the Doctor's office the EKG machine need the SSN to make it work (when I did refuse, they made me wait 1 hour in the room) finally they did it. Now I am under the threat of not having my procedure done if I do not provide my SSN. My appointment is June 8. What many people do, is giving a "fake" SSN to avoid confrontation. Easy...but I don't feel right with a lie for no good reason. Should I have a written statement? What can I do to avoid this situation?

Does a parent have a moral or legal obligation to obtain medical help for his or her child?

Do I have any legal rights if a doctors office is caught not disposing of personal information properly?

Two-and-a-half years ago four individuals, including myself, filed ethics complaints against a local psychologist. These ethics complaints were filed with the State Board of Psychologists. Three of the complainants were employees of this psychologist. Our allegations ranged from sexual harassment in and out of the workplace to falsifying personality testing. The other complainant was a patient of this psychologist and a minor at the time the offenses occurred. Her complaints were those of fondling, kissing, and inappropriate comments made by this psychologist to the patient. To make a long story short, during the past two-and-a-half years, this psychologist's attorney filed two lawsuits against the State Board and later brought one of the suits to Appellate Court after losing a decision. In the end, the State Board of Psychologists "dismissed" all of the claims in lieu of this psychologist admitting he was an "impaired psychologist" and in lieu of this psychologist dropping the suits he had made against the State Board. The only "reprimand" this psychologist received from the State Board was a mandate stating that he had to see another psychologist monthly for six months. All the while, the State Board allowed this psychologist -- even though he admitted to being an "impaired psychologist" -- to practice while under investigation of these claims and even allowed him to obtain prescription privileges. We were under the impression that the State Board would protect the public by swiftly and justly dealing with sex offenders and pedophiles but this has definitely not been the case. This man must have friends in the right places on the Board! We feel that The Board of Psychologists, in essence, allowed this man's attorney to manipulate their "system" of handling ethics complaints. Had we known that the Board would not have instituted its power in swiftly and appropriately dealing with these complaints, we would have considered other avenues of filing our complaints. We feel that the State Board of Psychologists was remiss in protecting us as well as the public and that this psychologist basically got away with crime. At this point, is there anything we can do to bring this man to justice and bring these matters to a conclusion? And do we have any recourse against the Board for not doing its duty to protect the public?

I am taking a legal nurse consultant course. I have been looking over several old briefs. I have yet to see any mention of expert witness be given be a nurse. Just how valuable will I be in the legal profession?