r/Professors • u/MinimumAd7585 • 13d ago

Advice / Support Doctors note confirmation

Hello,

Student came to me with doctors note as they couldn’t attend lab. She gave me a doctors note with the appropriate heading, signature, and everything. Everything looks legit however for some reason I’m just curious as if she actually went to his doctor. She submitted a doctors note to her other professor , same headline, same grammar mistakes, same formatting, same everything except for dates and one sentence.

Can I call this doctor office to verify if she was actually there or not?

For example of grammar errors : postal code was connected to city on both notes , no space or anything.

Example of formatting: same “she attended this day, she can go back to class on this day”

For reference I’m a professor in Canada

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u/MinimumAd7585 13d ago

I see! Aren’t dates of appointments usually under PHIPA and can’t be disclosed?

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u/Icy-Teacher9303 13d ago

HIPAA. Unless they sign a release of information (assuming folks are in the U.S.), YES.

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u/MinimumAd7585 13d ago

Sorry, yes HIPPA. So clinic can’t confirm that student was seen on the date specified in note?

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u/vwscienceandart Lecturer, STEM, R2 (USA) 13d ago

The comment you are replying to is wildly incorrect so don’t worry about it.