@momo2x2018 You actually DID give your consent for this person to have access to your family member’s medical records. However, it was not informed consent because the doctor did not inform you correctly about who this person was.
“This is Caden, an intern,” doesn’t count as asking for or receiving consent for Caden to sit in on a medical examination, particularly when Caden is not in fact a medical intern. “I’m going to do this thing until you physically stop me” is not getting consent. We’ve covered this in other threads.
Okay, but do know that “laypersons” (meaning non licensed healthcare personnel) do have access to your PHI in carrying out various duties associated with your care or account. These are people who are doing jobs administrative in nature rather than the actual act of taking care of you/prescribing. If he has been hired by the physician to “take notes” during interviews/exams, that act in and of itself is not a HIPAA violation, as he is considered part of the healthcare team.
OF COURSE that does not mean that this can be done without patient consent, and his role should be made clear, especially after you have called to inquire about it.
My new doc, fresh from his Chief Residency, wears no lab coat of any sort. Nor did he sit on the wheelie stool. He pulled up a chair, rested his feet on the step to the exam table. I was in a chair, too, not on the table.)
I’m just noting that (and btw, he’s a fab doc,) because we seem to be aswirl in all sorts of traditional expectations that may or may not apply.
Main thing is, yes, if there’s a question about one’s official role, ask.
“not a HIPAA violation, as he is considered part of the healthcare team.” But required to have the HIPAA training, no? The admin or billing staff does.
Although agree that the dr’s choice of the word “intern” was technically incorrect, I’ve had many interactions with MDs, DDS’s, etc where when dr walks into room he/she is accompanied by another person. Maybe I’m naïve but I assume that the dr doesn’t let people accompany him/her into patient rooms that don’t have some relevant reason to be there. Here the “intern” entered notes…. I don’t always know who this third person is, or their title (not that it would matter or even mean something to me), I just assume they are part of the dr’s team. Since I don’t say anything, I think that my silence as to this third person is my implied consent to person being present.
I’m not sure from OP that intern had “full access” to patient’s health care records or just limited access to enter the day’s notes. I think it’s entirely appropriate to get matter cleared up. If patient can’t get satisfactory explanation and/or trust is broken, find another dr and let matter go.
Is the patient even bothered by this? Was he upset by this and wanting the OP to go to bat for him with the doctor?
At the end of the day (another irritant to some people, ha ha), the patient always has the right of refusal. No matter if the “intern” had a legitimate need to be there, the patient has the final say. And that is a good thing.
@thumper to answer your #45 question
“Licensed? As a PGY1? I don’t think they take their exams until later in their residency.”
It is entirely up to the resident and possibly their supervising doctor. The only requirement is that the new doctor needs to prove they have a med school diploma. So, they could take it the summer they start residency if that proof is available or at any time during their residency.
@himom is there a typo here?
What exams are you talking about?
Physicians don’t take specialty boards until after they graduate from residency. In fact, until they graduate they’re not eligible to sit for boards.
Residents are expected to take Step 3 (USMLE) pr Level 3 (COMLEX) sometime before their last year of residency. Many program require or at least strong recommend that residents take those exams during their PGY1.
All residents–even interns-- have a medical license. If they didn’t they couldn’t treat patients. Residents PGY1 through the last year of residency work under a medical training license that is tied to their residency site. Residents don’t qualify for individual medical licenses. However residents who are within 6 months of their graduation date are eligible to apply for an individual medical license in the state where they are training/living.
Actually, we didn’t give consent. A brief, ‘This is Caden, my intern’ is not, IMO, consent.
No, my H was not bothered (until I mentioned it, 
) and he did not ask me to go to bat for him!
My bad. I thought the doc asked if you minded if the “intern” sat in.
Sorry, relative received undergrad degree and was applying to Med schools when she was transcriber. She never met the patients she was transcribing info for.
A transcriber is different from a scribe. A scribe sits in the room and takes notes for the chart so that the doctor is free to interact with the patient. It’s a relatively new role. A medical transcriber types up doctors’ voice-recorded notes.
When I was in nursing school, we had to go to the hospital the evening before our morning clinical day and look up information on our assigned patients so that we could stay up half the night writing care plans. 
We were required to wear a white lab coat over our street clothes so that it was clear to observers that we had some sort of valid reason to be going through the charts. We also wore our student badges, but unless you were close enough to read them, you might not have any idea of what our role was.
So don’t assume a person wearing a white lab coat is a doctor or is attempting to convey such.
Again…when the doctor walks into my examining room with another person who is doing any kind of assistance for him or her, the doc introduces the person by name (or they introduce themselves) but I never have thought to question why they were there…or their credentials.
And everyone at my eye docs office…everyone…wears a white jacket. Well…except the doctors…sometimes they don’t!
Why everything in healthcare world is so complicated !!!
My daughter did a clinical research internship at a children’s hospital between her junior and senior years in college. She was an “intern” in the same way that her friends doing internships in marketing, engineering, or financial management. I would imagine that she was introduced as such to patients and their families.
@EllieMom, I would be very surprised if she was introduced that way to patients and their families. “Intern” in medicine is understood to have a different meaning and I don’t think most physicians would refer to her that way. That would be considered deceptive. “Student” would be more appropriate.
It would be deliberately disingenuous (and borderline deliberately deceptive) to use the word “intern” in the general volunteer job way that is now common, rather than the very defined and standard first-year residency way which is built into the medical education process.
Although “intern” in medicine traditionally refers to a first year resident, it’s fallen out of favor in that usage. My Ds (one of whom is currently a PGY1 and one who is about to graduate from residency) Both say they have never ever been referred to as an intern in front of patients. Nor have any of their peers. In fact, residents and most attendings don’t use intern to refer to first year residents. First year residents are more commonly called PGY1s (“ones”) or junior residents (“juniors”). First year residents are pretty much universally introduced to patients as “Doctor.”