Under what condition can medical records be withheld from a patient?

The correct answer relates to the concept of "therapeutic privilege." This refers to a situation where a healthcare provider can withhold certain information from a patient if disclosing that information would likely cause significant harm or impede the patient's ability to receive treatment effectively. For instance, if revealing a diagnosis could lead to severe distress that would negatively impact the patient's health, the provider may determine that it is in the patient's best interest to withhold that information temporarily.

This principle is guided by the ethical obligation to "do no harm," which underscores the importance of considering the patient's emotional and psychological state when making decisions about the disclosure of medical information. It is important to note that this privilege is not open-ended; the decision to withhold information must be carefully justified and, ideally, revisited when the patient's circumstances change.

In contrast, the other options do not align with the ethical and legal frameworks governing medical record access. Financial issues, requests from family members, and pending legal investigations do not typically constitute valid reasons for withholding medical records from a patient. Each of these scenarios would have its own set of legal and ethical considerations, but they are not grounded in the same rationale as the therapeutic privilege.