Q. Following a road accident my patient requested a report and a quotation for repairing her damaged teeth. The report details the costs associated with various treatment options and she has since asked me to delete all but the most expensive option which she will send to her insurance company. Should I be worried about doing so?

It is not unusual for a patient to request a report if they are seeking to make a claim following an accident. It is also appropriate to be concerned about the patients request to you.

Any report which you provide should be factual and capable of substantiation by way of the records. It is not unusual for an insurance company to request copies of the records once they have received a claim from a policy holder. They would of course only be entitled to access copy records with the patient’s consent. The original report would form part of that record.

As you can imagine if you were to make the alterations requested by the patient then the amended version of the report would not reflect the true facts of the matter. It is therefore entirely appropriate that you leave your report in its current format and explain to the patient that it reflects the true facts of the matter as contained within their

A patient cannot compel you to change the report or your records. To do so would potentially expose you to criticism by the GDC for attempting to mislead the insurer.

Click here to read more about the length of time that dental records should be kept.