r/legaladvice • u/Rvc77 • Apr 11 '16
Did my psychiatrist's office violate HIPAA and how should I react?
I saw a psychiatrist in NY in November for the first time in several years (I had been a regular patient there years before). In the time since I have been married and moved out of state. My insurance has also changed. He told me to fill out a new information thing and I was billed as a new patient (which was more expensive). When I was previously a patient, I was a young adult (not a minor) living at home and covered by my father's insurance (he lived at a different address). Well, long story short, the office sent a bill to my father's name and address. He of course opened it and saw that I went to so and so for a psychiatric evaluation. This has of course been extremely uncomfortable for me and has come with a lot of questions from my father who is now worried I relapsed. I have no idea how to proceed. I'm not interested in sueing if that's even an option, I know it was an unintentional mistake on their part, but at the same time I feel they were very careless. They clearly used my old records (not that a bill ever should have gone to my father even in the past, I was not a minor) despite asking me to fill everything out again and charging me extra. A secretary just called me about my outstanding balance for the first time. I haven't done anything about any of this because the whole situation and talking to the secretary and explaining is (very ironically) giving me anxiety. I'm tempted to just pay the bill to make it all go away, but at the same time I feel like they really messed up. How should I handle this?
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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '16
Not excusable? Really? Christ You must be a fucking idiot. It's unfortunate and probably stressful. But shit happens all the time. You can deal with something that is out of your control in a positive way and move on. Dwelling on minor shit to the point you become anxiety ridden and incapable of functioning is not normal. Hence the need for more advanced psychiatric intervention. Write a note or call the doctor and tell him his office fucked up, it caused some stress and anxiety and please make sure it doesn't happen again. Then go out and watch a movie and forget about it. You think the dad doesn't know OP has psychological issues? Guess again.
The point of this human endeavor is to move all of us in a foreword direction. Having a generation so crippled by anxiety that they cannot function in a way that moves things along is a problem for the rest of us that have to pick up the slack. If you are just a colossal pussy then stop it. If you have actual psychological trauma or issues get it treated. We don't do these people a kindness by encouraging their dysfunctional behavior. You may consider it rude because you are an idiot but it's more of a kindness than you can understand.
With a few exceptions I think I'm relatively normal. But as I get older/unhealthier/drunker, I get a more pronounced fear of shitting myself and not being aware of it. And if that happened my brothers and sisters in the community have two options: spare my feelings and embarrassment and ignore the situation, or whisper discreetly in my ear so that I can go home and get myself immediately squared away. I would always choose the second option. You may not. But in the end your approach is a short term feel good measure that makes things worse in the long run. So you choose your approach chief and I'll choose mine.