Another Reason to Read Your Medical Record – A True Story
August 17th, 2009
Sam, a 70 year old healthy man, sat on the table in his urologist’s office for his one year follow up visit. Twelve months prior to this visit, Sam had bladder stones and an enlarged prostate. Dr. Rosenthal, his urologist, removed the stones and some prostate tissue during a hospital-based outpatient surgery. The surgery went well, and during the two-week follow up visit, Dr. Rosenthal informed Sam that he would not need to see him again for a year. One year later, as Dr. Rosenthal walked into the exam room eyeing Sam’s medical record he stopped for a moment, raised his eyebrows and then looked sheepishly at Sam. “I’m sorry,” he said, “the pathology report from your surgery showed prostate cancer. And, I am afraid I did not see the report until now.” Sam was confused as to how that could have happened. Although he had not previously requested a copy of the report, he asked for one now. After calming down, finding a new urologist, and making plans for the testing to find out how far the cancer had spread over the past year, Sam finally sat down and read the report. Typed in large, bold type across the top of the report was the following statement: “Results telephoned in to Dr. Rosenthal on 05/05/08″…..one year prior to the visit. Turns out not only did Dr. Rosenthal have a copy of the report, he also had received a verbal notification that Sam’s pathology report showed cancer of the prostate. The hospital had a strict policy of calling the surgeon, in addition to faxing and mailing a copy of the report whenever there was a finding of cancer. Sam’s story is one case – what happened here may not be common place, but it does occur. Although we may not think it’s our responsibility to read our operative report or a pathology report, incompetent physicians and medical malpractice claims aside, it could mean the difference between a good or bad result in the best case scenario, or life and death in the worst case scenario. In the end, your health information is just that…..yours. No one will care more about it, or own it, in quite the same way as you.
Related posts:
- Have You Had Medical Care You Thought Was Unnecessary? Share Your Story
- 10 things you should know about your medical record, from Dr. Ruthann Russo
- The Real Reason Why Doctors Don’t Want To Adopt EMRs, And What To Do About It
- Ovarian Cancer: Actress Kathy Bates Shares Her Story
- Calling Patient Advocates–Share Your Story
August 17th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Twitter Comment
RT @mike_gamble: Another Reason to Read Your Medical Record [AND your loved one's] – A True Story – [link to post] GOOD INFO!!!!
– Posted using Chat Catcher
August 18th, 2009 at 1:36 am
[...] Article Ruthann Russo, Disruptive Women in Health Care, 17 August 2009 SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Another Reason to Read Your Medical Record – A True Story", url: "http://articles.icmcc.org/2009/08/18/another-reason-to-read-your-medical-record-%e2%80%93-a-true-story/" }); [...]
August 18th, 2009 at 9:21 am
This is a very disturbing story, and happens a lot more than anyone
would think. Perhaps EMR will helps somewhat with flagging notices
that appear in the physicians daily routine. Our current system is
flawed…
August 20th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Many health professionals are worried that if patients see pathology results before the doc has had a chance to talk to them about it, the patient will feel worried or confused and the doctor may be put on the spot. This story, which is not all that unusual, tells the other side of that equation. If patients can see their results, this provides a safety net to catch any results that slip by the doctor, for whatever reason.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
[...] Disruptive Women in Health Care » Blog Archive » Another Reason to Read Your Medical Record – A … [...]
August 21st, 2009 at 6:20 am
[...] Here’s a real example from Disruptive Women (via Ted Eytan) of a communication breakdown. Notice that policies and procedures were in place, the lack of follow-through is where the problem rose: One year later, as Dr. Rosenthal walked into the exam room eyeing Sam’s medical record he stopped for a moment, raised his eyebrows and then looked sheepishly at Sam. “I’m sorry,” he said, “the pathology report from your surgery showed prostate cancer. And, I am afraid I did not see the report until now.” Sam was confused as to how that could have happened. Although he had not previously requested a copy of the report, he asked for one now. [...]
December 14th, 2009 at 6:21 am
[...] Beyond this risk, patients and families are not demanding that their doctors see their test results first anyway, so this is just another reason to change the rule “patient doesn’t get to see their test results until the doctor does.” [...]