Is There Any Way to Correct Your Medical Records?

Question by heylaady: is there any way to correct your medical records?
Ok so this is a long story, so I’ll keep it short; was flipping through my moms medical records with her and there were so many MAJOR mistakes put in them from different doctors, and it gets passed around from doctor to doctor as refrence, I had to wonder, Is there any way you could correct them?

Best answer:

Answer by manowarxxxxx
You can fill out a request for an addendum to the medical records with whoever currently houses the records. Usually there is a form to to that with and someone from Health Information and/or Compliance will review the request and either approve or deny the addendum.

Answer by gicomeng
In an age of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) it’s virtually impossible to get a doctor to make a correction. Frankly, physicians would rather be slapped with a lawsuit and flogged mercilessly than to admit an error, but you can go right to the physician and ask him or her to make a change. As incredible as it may seem, there have been physicians that admit to an error. However, I would bet my money on a horse with a broken hoof before I would on a doctor to alter a medical record.

There’s always a medical malpractice attorney. But take it from someone with experience, if there’s no money to be made, and if you’re not prepared to fork out $ 10k, an attorney is NOT the way to go.

Your best bet is to go to the medical board in your state. Find out the procedures and write them a letter explaining what is incorrect and why you want it changed. It will take some time for them to get it resolved, but it’s their job and they will certainly put you on the right track.

My mom passed away in December 1995. In March 1996, I was getting statements from Blue Cross — my mom’s supplementel insurance carrier — for physicians treating my mother in January and February 1996. I contacted Blue Cross and told them that my mother was deceased. They told me that they were aware of that, but there was nothing that they could do. Eventually, their system did stop paying these doctors.

In 2003 I sought help from a physician for a sleep disorder first diagnosed in 1979, but the physician insisted that narcolepsy was a narcotics disorder. It isn’t! He went out of the examination room and when he came back he asked me if I had ever used methamphetamine. I thought we were getting someplace since I had been prescribed Desoxyn (methamphetamine hydrochloride) in 1979 I was a failing college student with no direction. My 2.0 GPA doubled in one semester… I went on to study aerospace engineering and worked for NASA on the design of the International Space Station (ISS) . Then in 1993, I found that a health food store remedy also eliminated daytime sleep attacks. I used that until it was pulled from the shelves in 2001. I had to work from home since doctors couldn’t give me anything and by April 2002 my job was terminated.

The physician I sought to get help from in 2003 wouldn’t release my MRs to me. As a result, my whole life was impacted and I didn’t even know what was happening. Eighteen months later, the SSA revealed my MRs which contained a false diagnosis of “SPEED ABUSE”. This diagnosis compromised by medical healthcare and continues to reek havoc in my life, even though the SSA discovered that none of this was true when Homeland Security brought me in on a 5150 because of my MRs.

Everyone has the right to know what’s in their MRs. Many physicians would rather you never saw them because of all the inaccuracies. But if MRs contain false assumptions, it could serious undermine the healthcare that the patient receives. Since 2006, I’ve been campaigning for Drug Use Education and to end the war on drugs which has more implications than the drugs themselves. Please visit my website at www.gicomeng.com for more.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!