
Are mental health patients entitled to see their medical notes?
From strep throat to cancer care, access to doctors’ notes has empowered patients. But is the same true in mental health?
by Charlotte Blease
Charlotte Blease PhD is a philosopher and associate professor of health informatics at Uppsala University, Sweden, and research affiliate at the Division of Digital Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, US. Her work explores the ethics of artificial intelligence in healthcare, patient-clinician communication and the psychology of health encounters. She is the author of Dr Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us – and How AI Could Save Lives (2025).