Medical Records / Doctor Rage

[sallylondon]

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Just off the phone after talking with my doctor who was supposed to clarify things. I need advice and your personal experiences please.

Has anyone asked their doctors for their medical records? Are yours logically presented? Do yours make sense?

1) I did and received a 3 page report broken down into 2 sections: Investigations / Values with the two sections not having the same info??? (Doctor did not understand why - apologised)
2)When I see the doctor her screen has all of my numbers nicely laid out since I was diagnosed. Apparently that can not be printed off (Doctor says)???
3) When I asked about breakdown of my LDL/HDL/Triglycerides (because they were missing in several places as only a 'normal' was given on the records) Doctor said that anyone on Statins does not get that breakdown any more as it is not necessary. Is that true :?: Whenever you guys report your results you always seem to have those numbers. Aren't we supposed to try and work to improve them?
4) Nothing on my notes about my breast lump removal (X2), knee replacement surgery - kind of important I would have thought. (Doctor says they are on a different set of medical notes - not the two I was given.)
5)Comments I do not understand. What is a) renal profile b)ALT raised (to do with liver function test) c) Is HbA1c the same as blood glucose level? d) GFR calculated abbreviated MDRD?
6) A government questionnaire that I filled in a few years ago (because the doctor asked me nicely - geeze what an idiot I am) had lots of questions on it and one asked if I had thoughts about being dead / self-harm. I said yes. (Can I clarify that I thought about being dead because of worrying about diabetes and upcoming knee surgery and the only self-harm I get up to is a bowl of ice-cream sometimes!! :lol: !) Unfortunately, that now shows on my medical records with no qualifying comments. Doctor says it can not now be deleted because I answered the question. I wasn't pleased with that but then I told her I thought it was wrong to have included that in the print out she sent to the life-insurance company - she denied she had several times until she finally looked at the printout and saw I was right. I will let you know how the insurance company handles that one. :crazy:

Okay rant over. Should it be this difficult? Any comments, help, answers welcome.

 

[Grazer]

Can only help with a bit of this!
LDL/HDL/TRIGS etc. My understanding is that when you go for a cholesterol test you ONLY get the total cholesterol figure UNLESS you tick on the form to the lab that you want the breakdown. My doctor is quite helpful. He couldn't give me my figures for this reason, but said if I want them, he'll ask for that next test
BLOOD GLUCOSE - not always clear. You need to look at the units involved to see if it's HbA1c (which I imagine it weill be) If it's a %age figure, it's HbA1c. If it's a figure in the 30's/40's/50's, it's also HbA1c in the new units unless you're extrememely poorly!! If it's a figure like "7" with no %, probably saying "mmols/l", it's a normal blood plasma test like you get on your meter (they sometimes take a fasting one at the surgery) and it's not much use to you at all - you need your HbA1c
Sorry I can't help more

 

[anna29]

Hi Sally.
You can actually request to have your medical records released via the data protection act which states that all 'live'
patients have the right to access their medical records.
The 'live' patient thing is comical as we can hardly request them 'deceased' :lol:
However the hospitals/clinic's can incurr a charge for this...
My hospital charged me £50 for the full release of mine, was told the charge covers the postage charges
and the ink used when they photocopy hundreds of pages of records.
I applied to have mine released and had to wait 6 weeks till recieved them via recorded delivery.
Hope this helps?
Anna.

 

[sallylondon]

Thanks Grazer. Guess I will have to remember to ask for the Doc to tick the box for the breakdown.

Thanks Anna but I was able to get some my records off of my doctor (not seen by hospital for years unfortunately). The problem is that they are divided into 3 separate types of records which do not always logically combine nor make a lot of sense to me. The records also seem to be missing important facts such as my eye tests, operations and a few blood tests. I am 'live' at the moment although much more of this chaos and my rising blood pressure may see to that :roll: :lol: