Medical Records Can Be Obtained And Errors Corrected

Medical Records

Most of us never see our medical records.  Year after year we go to the doctor and we really don’t know what he or she is writing in there.  Or what the nurses are writing.  Or what other staff may be documenting.  Even in an emergency such as a surgery, we still do not know what is being written in our medical records.  Emergency departments are busy places, and there could be a lot of errors, mix-ups, and other mistakes contained in there.

These are usually not discovered until it is too late.  When there is usually an accident or lawsuit or something that brings the medical records to light.  This can be from a very serious accident or injury too, where mistakes can be particularly fatal to your case.  This is especially true in medical malpractice lawsuits, where providers will use these mistakes against you.  Yes, providers will use the mistakes that made against you to protect them from the mistakes they made in the medical malpractice.  How does that feel?!

This is why doctors and healthcare providers do not want you to know that you have access to your medical records whenever you want them.  You can go ask to inspect the records.  You can go to make copies or have someone make a copy.  You are entitled to completely copy everything in it.  The records are for your health, and you can absolutely get it—after all, you paid for it!

Something else doctors don’t want you to know—you can CHANGE THEM!  That’s right!  You can absolutely change mistakes in medical records that you see or that are contained therein.  You have the right to replace errors and file a claim to have the provider replace them with Medicaid/Medicare/CMS and HHS or with the NYS Department of Health.  That way you can protect yourself from medical errors which could really hurt your case!