Can patients benefit from reading copies of their doctors' letters about them?

Britain's Data Protection Act has raised the question of patients' to their medical records. In the authors' study, patients at a clinic received either a copy of the consultant's letter to their practitioner or a post-consultation discussion with a staff member. patient groups were asked to rate the two approaches. A group of general and additional patients were asked to rank these approaches as as the alternative of receiving a clinic letter in "everyday" language by a discussion with the physician. This last option was least by patients; opinions on the other options were divided. Only 13% the physicians approved of the clinic letter, and over half thought the's letter was the worst option. The authors conclude that patients from consultants' letters and recommend that patients be allowed more to medical notes. (KIE abstract)