Douglas Griswold ’25 on taking action to enforce protections already in the law

By Douglas Griswold ’25
Via LSC Blog

For the past several years the Legal Services Center has noticed concerning practices by the companies contracting with medical facilities to provide medical records that appear to be in violation of Massachusetts’ patients’ rights laws. Our low-income clients need their medical records to prove eligibility for programs like Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and other safety net cash assistance supports. When requesting records on behalf of clients we routinely face long delays, improper denials, partial fulfillment, and exorbitant bills. As a result, some of our clients have had to postpone their hearings, further delaying their access to much-needed assistance.

Our clients are uniformly low-income and unable to work due to their severe medical conditions. Many have already experienced major trauma, housing insecurity, or homelessness – delays and other barriers further increase their financial insecurity and medical vulnerability.

This is why the Legal Services Center has decided to take action to enforce protections already in the law requiring that medical records be provided in their entirety, for free, and within 30 days of a request. We are interested in hearing from people who are entitled to receive a free copy of their complete medical records but have not been provided with a free copy of their complete medical records. We have a flier and website that lists all the qualifications that we are looking for in a plaintiff and are asking for support in sharing widely with your clients and partner organizations. Are you facing similar issues, either for yourself or your clients? You may be eligible to be a plaintiff and we would love to hear from you.

If you have any questions, please contact us at: medicalrecordslsc@law.harvard.edu. And for more information please go to: https://legalservicescenter.org/medical-records-class-action/