I wouldn’t expect a doctor to actually provide information. That information would be updated by a doctor, compiled by a PA, and given to an administrator to clear with lawyers.
It’s locked down enough that I wouldn’t expect any different even if the request was coming directly from the patients lawyer. Being a high profile patient just means there’s more eyes making sure the statement is in line with the authorized disclosure.
A 100% authorized request is still going to go through hospital administration and lawyers to ensure that what’s being stated is entirely consistent with what the patient authorized for release. If McConnell authorized “had pneumonia” then that’s what they can say, and they can’t even imply “had double lung transplant”.
Beyond that, any complex patient will have multiple doctors. When the medical information is coming from four doctors under the supervision of a fifth, compiled by a PA for use by an administrator after legal approval I’m not sure it makes sense to say anything beyond “came from the office of”.
Similar to how a municipal spokesperson will read a statement regarding a crime with information from “investigators”.
In an ideal world the hospital administration exists in part to shield providers from public scrutiny in cases like this. You want doctors doing doctor stuff, not formatting press releases or dealing with death threats because they did or didn’t have anything to do with Mitch McConnell being debilitated.
A 100% authorized request is still going to go through hospital administration and lawyers to ensure that what’s being stated is entirely consistent with what the patient authorized for release. If McConnell authorized “had pneumonia” then that’s what they can say, and they can’t even imply “had double lung transplant”.
Beyond that, any complex patient will have multiple doctors. When the medical information is coming from four doctors under the supervision of a fifth, compiled by a PA for use by an administrator after legal approval I’m not sure it makes sense to say anything beyond “came from the office of”.
Similar to how a municipal spokesperson will read a statement regarding a crime with information from “investigators”.
In an ideal world the hospital administration exists in part to shield providers from public scrutiny in cases like this. You want doctors doing doctor stuff, not formatting press releases or dealing with death threats because they did or didn’t have anything to do with Mitch McConnell being debilitated.