I just received a call from Alice Wilcox Hassen (386) 451-0643, the Supervisor of GI Lab at Halifax Hospital.

She told me that she had received a message from Dr. Nasr indicating that I wanted to receive copies of my mom’s medical records, but that due to HIPAA regulations she was unable to provide me anything like that, and I would need to contact the hospital’s Medical Records Department at (386) 254-4040.

I asked her if she was aware that I was requesting copies of the toxicology reports that — I was told — proved my mother was not infected with H.I.V. or Hepatitis C because of the egregious error on the part of a Halifax employee who worked for her department. She said that she did know that, but that it didn’t change the fact that I would need to go through the Medical Records Department.

I said I thought it was a little frustrating that I was being dramatically inconvenienced because of a mistake in her department, but she didn’t seem to think that was relevant.

Since I was at lunch at a Rosti Italian Restaurant in Encino, CA and doing my best to take notes using a blunt green crayon and a children’s menu, I just hung up.