Wellness

[AuntG]

At a recent appointment, the doctor breezed in and said "I see you had a kidney stone in 2015". I immediately responded that I've never had one. He didn't seem to believe me, but then added he didn't see where I had any scans done that year which would have found a stone. Exactly, I silently thought! So I asked nicely if he could remove that notation and he said he couldn't.

Now a neighbor is being forced to use a "patient portal" at her clinic. As she worked her way through her electronic medical records, she saw a notation of "long time history of atrial fibrillation" which she has never been diagnosed with.

So my question is, what do you do when you find a glaring error in your medical records? When you say something, they just tell you that is what the doctor put in the notes. I tend to think the doctor put it in some other person's notes and they ended up in our records.

[Bhvbum]

Do you have access to your medical records online?  I do with "my chart". 

There are a few errors, drugs that I had no "prescription" for even though they are listed, but they are also over the counter drugs which is confusing. Maybe the question is to ask, "since this is an error who is going to fix it?"

Note I always look at my doctor's notes that are posted after my visits and if I see anything that is incorrect I call the nursing assistant to let them know, and then I follow up if it's not fixed. 

[RedTop]

I would contact the office manager to ask what needs to be done to try to correct it.

[CoffeeNut]

I doubt if they are allowed to delete anything. 

I would have them put in your records that you reviewed your records on this date and the following items are incorrect.

I agree that you should contact the office manager and follow whatever protocols they have in place.

Insurances review medical records and you want to make sure everything is correctly documented to avoid any issues down the road.  

[Tinkrbl44]

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@AuntG wrote:

At a recent appointment, the doctor breezed in and said "I see you had a kidney stone in 2015". I immediately responded that I've never had one. He didn't seem to believe me, but then added he didn't see where I had any scans done that year which would have found a stone. Exactly, I silently thought! So I asked nicely if he could remove that notation and he said he couldn't.

Now a neighbor is being forced to use a "patient portal" at her clinic. As she worked her way through her electronic medical records, she saw a notation of "long time history of atrial fibrillation" which she has never been diagnosed with.

So my question is, what do you do when you find a glaring error in your medical records? When you say something, they just tell you that is what the doctor put in the notes. I tend to think the doctor put it in some other person's notes and they ended up in our records.

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@AuntG 

Wow, that's an interesting ... and important ... question. 

I have received several emails telling me to sign up for a patient portal thing and always resisted.  It never ocurred to me that I should check for errors!

[Icegoddess]

I've never seen anything in my Patient Portal except things that occurred within that Portal system since I entered it.  So, my Patient Portal with the local Hospital would only have things like my colonoscopy or mammogram results since both procedures were done within the Hospital's system.  They wouldn't have my medical records from my doctors.  

My PCP are all on paper.  His office does not have a Patient Portal.  My gyno records are on the computer since they enter new data every time I go, although I've never looked to see if they're actually available to me. 

[Trailrun23]

When i was recovering from surgery in the hospita a few years ago, the dr asked if I had any pain and I said only in my shoulder. He said it must be from when I dislocated my shoulder five years earlier. I told him I had never dislocated my shoulder. He said I must have because it was in my medical record. I guess whatever gets in your record stays there? I tried to have it removed to no avail. I am quick to tell new doctors about the error.

The names of some of my meds are mispelled to the point they sound like totally different drugs...that could be dangerous.

[ZenaC]

My mother experienced the same thing. Her records had her listed as a current smoker when she had not smoked in over 50 years. She told her doctor about the mistake and he said he would have it fixed. He didn't. Then his staff told my mom it couldn't be changed and that it made no difference anyway. Mom knew that wasn't right. Finally her doctor retired and she explained to her new doctor that she was not a smoker and that doctor said that she would fix it. Mom logged into her poratal and saw it was still there. She communicated somehow through her portal that she wanted that removed. Finally it was after years.

My grandmother was admitted to the hospital for gallbladder surgery. While there, she was told she might be diabetic. Turned out after follow up with her doctor she was not diabetic. Still, whenever she was hospitalized after that, diabetic was always pulled up on her hospital chart and they sent her diabetic meals. We had to explain to them that she was not diabetic and to order her regular meals. Diabetes was on her record until she died.

[ID2]

@Tinkrbl44 

Why wouldn't you ever sign up to use your patient portal?!? It's a great way to view all of your medical records with that facility.

[granddi]

And what is shown on the patient version of My Chart (or other formats) is not always what the provider sees. So there could be other conditions noted that the patient would consider to be incorrect.

I had a minor procedure with biopsy. At my follow up, the nurse handed me a print out of the lab report and said quietly "you need this" The top of the report said NOT FOR MY CHART

Friends pcp was filling out an insurance health application. It was noted COPD. My friend called doc and said WHAT?  Reply from nurse was "if you have ever smoked then you have copd!"