I called again to see if there was any info – there wasn’t. From her tone, the receptionist seemed annoyed that I called twice today, so I chickened out and didn’t ask for the data to be mailed to me. Next time, hopefully I won’t forget or chicken out.
I wish there was a way to have them ALWAYS send me a copy of my records, but of course they don’t have a way to do this.
Here is my theory
I think the prevailing attitudes around medical records are:
- “The patient wants these records so they can go over them with a fine-tooth comb and sue us for any irregularity,” or
- “The patient is a hypochondriac, and will just freak out over every piece of data, so they shouldn’t get a copy,” or
- “The patient won’t understand these records, so there is no reason they should want a copy.”
Basically they seem to think that although a patient CAN ask for records, they shouldn’t WANT to, and if they do, there’s something wrong with them. That’s me: Mr. Wrong.