JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

Enoch:

I think that patients need to make keep their own record, and some are starting to do so. It’s so refreshing to see a patient with their med list in hand, or the heart card showing their stents, or their last EKG.

Chai Tea Latte:

Pleading note from frustrated practicing pathologist. If you have biopsies done or any tissue taken out at surgery, a pathology report will be generated. Keep copies of these for your files. All records of any procedure done on you, any tissue taken off your body and sent to a lab. Do this for your own protection and to save the harried pathologist from chasing down all these reports. With HIPAA regulations, I can’t request slides directly. You have to request them. I’ll have more on this topic in another post on how you can keep complete pathology records for yourself. You are doing yourself a big favor.

I have a big velcro folder containing all my medical records from California (lots of infertility trials and one pregnancy). One of my doctors in California warned me that I could only have one copy of my records for free; any more copies and I’d be charged for them. So I made a copy of them for my doctor here in Seattle and gave it to her. I think she was surprised. At first it seemed she wanted to look at my records for a while, read through them and give them back, but I told her she could keep the copy. I thought it probably should be integrated into my current records.

And in my desk drawer I have a file folder for each member of the family with medical information. It’s very helpful, for example, if I need to find an immunization record or if I want to store prescription information for future reference.

Making these medical records digital would be easier for storage, of course. Probably cheaper too. No paperwork or copying fees. I like Enoch’s My Yahoo idea: it’d be great to learn the latest research and news on medical conditions.