Notices

Dr. Johnson is fully retired from practice.

Your psychiatric records are held (digital form only—the original hardcopy will have been shredded) in the custodial care of Vital Records Control. Should you need a copy, here is the contact info:
     Phone      702-410-9591
     Fax          702-462-9932
     email       service-las@vrcofnv.com
The company’s representative will have you fill out and submit a HIPAA-compliant request, which, if you like, you may download here (see below) and submit as your first communication to Vital Records Control. You will be charged on a per-page basis (plus tax) for the digital copy you receive (if you ask that it be sent to you in hardcopy, there will be a postage charge too). Once you have a digital copy, you may in future of course reproduce it yourself free of any additional charge. (And you may decide yourself how much of it to make available to whomever is asking you for it.)  

SOME ADVICE BEFORE YOU SUBMIT A REQUEST TO VITAL RECORDS CONTROL

Your right to confidentiality in psychiatric care is real, and it is important. If you are requesting on behalf of a doctor or other medical professional who is, or will be, charged with some aspect of your care, the continued confidentiality is protected by law (HIPAA). But if the requestor is not a medical professional, that is not the case, and such a party may not have your best interest in mind, or worse, may be deliberately working against your interest. The most common circumstances in this regard involve legal or insurance matters. Do not agree to release your psychiatric record on the request of an insurance company, say one that sells life-insurance, without very careful thought and some real argumentation over the request; look for a policy that would not make an issue of your psychiatric history. Be careful, too, when you are asked by a lawyer to submit your psychiatric record. The only authority with legal standing to demand your record is a judge, one acting through a court-order (in writing, which you should review with your own lawyer). If you are plaintiff or defendant in a suit, the lawyer(s) for the opposition will sometimes send you letters DEMANDING your record: do not be gullible; only a judge with a court-order may make a demand of this kind with actual legal force. If you have questions about what to do, speak with your own lawyer; also feel that you may call Dr Johnson for his point of view if you wish.