News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless?. Parent comment

Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by dvtrn on Friday January 04, 2019 @03:16PM (#18827245)
every time I've done it the response is always defensive, ie "why do you need them"

I was asked this once after requesting mine. I flatly said "I don't", and waited. The person on the other end of the line was clearly thrown off by this, probably expecting something they could dish out a canned response to, hoping I'd give up. It was obvious from their voice they were scrambling for what to say to that.

A bit of rigmarole later, I had my medical records.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by davycro on Friday January 04, 2019 @04:15PM (#18827703)
I encourage patients to read or listen to me dictate my note about them during our exam. Often they catch something that I had misinterpreted.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by tempestn on Friday January 04, 2019 @10:48PM (#18829782)
That's a great idea! Simple and sounds very effective.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by ams6110 on Friday January 04, 2019 @04:19PM (#18827735)
Side question, would the "right to be forgotten" also entitle you to call your doctor and demand that all your medical records be destroyed?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by conanbatt on Friday January 04, 2019 @05:36PM (#18828388)
Docs need to keep a history for multiple reasons, from insurance to malpractice lawsuits, so no.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by tacon on Friday January 04, 2019 @09:40PM (#18829555)
My understanding is that, in the US, your medical records are the property of the healthcare provider, absent some contractual language otherwise. The new thing was the federal law that required them to give you a copy of everything at cost. Before that, the only sure way to get a copy of your medical records was to sue the provider and perform document discovery.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by ryandrake on Friday January 04, 2019 @03:31PM (#18827345)
Why would they be so hesitant? Surely it’s not that extra work for an office admin to pull something up and hit “print”.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by nradov on Friday January 04, 2019 @03:41PM (#18827412)
Some doctors have been concerned that patients lack the education needed to interpret their own charts. So when patients don't understand something they call back and ask a lot of questions, which doctors see as a waste of time. (I don't agree with this perspective, just giving some context.)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by hopler on Friday January 04, 2019 @08:05PM (#18829200)
In the US that's fine, because the doctor can bill for the follow-up consultation.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by nradov on Friday January 04, 2019 @08:24PM (#18829273)
Answering questions over the phone is usually not billable.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How Did Our Medical Notes Become So Useless? by brokenmachine on Monday January 07, 2019 @09:35PM (#18852594)
Most patient management systems don't have a convenient "print" button to print out the entire file.

Individual documents/entries, yes. Everything, no.

[ Parent | on HN ]