A health record technician has brought a patient’s record to the attention of the HIM director because the technician feels there are some suspicious sections in the record where the physician did not document certain treatments or purposes for treatment which may have led to an adverse outcome suffered by the patient. The HIM director has reviewed the record and agrees with the technician that a potential adverse event may have occurred. Subsequently, the physician recognizes he should have been more specific in documenting the patient’s care. He is now asking the HIM director, who is a personal friend, to let him add additional documentation to the patient’s record, which has since been placed on legal hold.
Since the director is a friend of the physician and knows he should have been more specific in his documentation, should the HIM director allow the physician access to the record to add the documentation? Why or why not?