No, since it's not allowed where I live. You can't say whether a someone is your patient or not without a waiver.
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
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Do places still request a "doctors note" there?
Yes, that's kind of funny since the name of the doctor is on that. But if the employer were to call, you wouldn't be allowed to tell him anything. Now it has been digitized anyway and I have no idea what information is conveyed on that "digital doctor's note".
Interesting, I have often doctor appointments for my son and they always just print out a page. It's like to whom it may concern (kid name) was seen by (doctor) on (date). They were accompanied by mother and father. Any questions contact (doctor) at (phone number).
Basically identical with every doctor. I find it especially funny that some times for various reasons either I don't go or the mother doesn't go and every letter says both of us were there.
I think I actually did once. But only because this particular employee was so unreliable that we had told her that we'd for her for calling off without a doctor's excuse.
Sure enough, she called off, but she did bring in a doctor's note... that just happened to look like she wrote it on the way to work.
I called the number on it later that day and I'm pretty sure she was the one that answered before hanging up on me.
A doctors note has to be in the doctors official letterhead…
Try getting a doctor's note when you have ME or something.
Lol, please tell me it was actually written and not printed.
Edit : even better was it actually on a page of paper or was it on like a napkin or back of a receipt?
Valid and accepted. Do whatever you want but your pay will be docked for missing time...
It was so long ago, I don't exactly remember what it looked like, but I do remember laughing at how little effort went into it.
I do appreciate the challenge of lowest effort calling out of work...
I once called out of work by sending a whisper to my boss in world of warcraft chat... His only response was "really??"
I don’t think most people would really care about a one off… but if it becomes a regular thing and/or the person has very low credibility then they’ll be more interested on if they’ve been taken for a ride or not.
Probably true
No
I would question your qualifications for answering but you answered as fast as possible and left. That defines my experience with medical professionals.
Your insurance doesn't cover multisyllabic answers, sorry.
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I was an Army Social Worker and I did confirmed appointments for soldiers.
Any appointments or just special ones? Like if a soldiers went to a doctor for a stomach ache? Or just if they got all the shots to travel to the Congo?
I only reported if they had an appointment at the clinic I worked at. All we were allowed to tell the soldiers command is the date and time and location of the appointment, no other details.
When your in the army, your command can verify any appointment you (a soldier) has. So while i don't know of any “sick call” reporting, i am sure that happened.
Ok, I'm not a soldier but that seems to lack the important detail of of they went. You said date, time, and location but their presence is important.
Command is obligated to maintain accountability of their soldiers, but knowing details of medical issues gets tricky.
If a soldier has a medical issue that prevents them from doing thier duties there is a process to communicate that. It is called being on profile. Say a soldier injured their wrist, they would get a profile that would say no lifting, or operating machinery, etc.
Interesting. Not really my intent of this post but still really interesting
Yes sir he was to appear on June 14 at 10am in nyc... Did he???...sorry, can't tell you that
Wouldn't even just responding to that kind of inquiry be a massive HIPPA violation?
Update: Some research shows that HIPPA does allows them to confirm the authenticity of the note and the date and time of the appointment but nothing else.
There are quite a few exceptions built into HIPAA. I'm sure there would be something as you describe, but also there are things like if a crime occurred on the premises of the provider (or whatever) and they think they recognize the person in their security footage as a patient, they can give that information to law enforcement (as one would expect with non-healthcare organizations).
Another is that if someone is talking with a patient in a double room with only a curtain separating, someone overhearing the conversation is considered incidental and not a HIPAA violation
Hmmm....true
So why does every company/school ask for a "doctors note" if they can't?
Some research shows that HIPPA does allows them to confirm the authenticity of the note and the date and time of the appointment but nothing else.
Ok, several questions... 1. Why is this some research? Shouldn't this just be a it allows or it doesn't allow? 2. How do they confirm it? 3. If you are the person answering the phone, why do you care? If I got a call asking if Sally visited my doctor yesterday, the answer is yes. I don't know Sally and never met her but yup she definitely was in this office which I don't own yesterday so she couldn't be at your office yesterday. 4. Wait time? Why does the boss care? I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so I won't be at work, doesn't matter if it's 9am, 3pm or 2:15am.
- Why is this some research? Shouldn't this just be a it allows or it doesn't allow?
Research can sometimes be as simple as "I googled it"
But have you ever looked at the full text of HIPAA? Or really just about any law for that matter?
HIPAA is something like 150 pages long, with a lot of specific details about what's forbidden, permitted, and required under different circumstances. There's a lot to comb over there.
And it's written in legalese, and there's good reason that laws are written that way, but it is often difficult for the average person to parse.
And there's places where laws reference other laws, and then you may have to go look up the relevant parts of those laws to fully understand what the law you were initially looking up is trying to say.
Point is that laws are complex and difficult for most people to understand, there's a reason we have professions like lawyers and paralegals whose whole jobs are basically to understand what laws apply under what circumstances. Understanding the nuances involved is rarely as cut-and-dry as looking up the law and seeing it spelled out in plain English that "X is/isn't legal" and when you see a law explained like that, there's a good chance that it's leaving out a lot of nuance about certain circumstances where the opposite might be true.
- If you are the person answering the phone, why do you care?
Because being gainfully employed is how most people afford basic necessities like food and shelter, and if your boss finds out you're doing that you're not going to be keeping that job for very long.
I'm other news, if anyone needs a personal/professional recommendation for a job tell me your name and industry and I got you fam.