Epilepsy Talk
What 2/3 of doctors don’t want you to see… | February 6, 2025
When asked if they’d like to see their doctor’s notes, patients in two new studies overwhelmingly said yes.
But doctors weren’t nearly as enthusiastic.
Actually, you have a legal right to see those records. But getting those notes — especially those that doctors take during a visit, can be painfully slow (and expensive!)
Unfortunately, doctors and hospitals can charge you whatever you want for photocopying, and can take up to two months to deliver. (Patient advocate Regina Holliday was charged 73 cents a page when she asked for copies of her husband’s chart when he was dying of cancer.)
Now that doctors and hospitals are using electronic medical records, however, the process of sharing should be relatively cheap and convenient.
Not surprisingly, the majority of patients thought that open visit notes were a great idea. They said it would give them more control and be better prepared for appointments. They also said it would help them do a better job following doctor’s orders and avoid mistakes. 92 to 97 percent of people who took the survey were in favor of full access.
But the doctors are balking. Most thought that patients like you would be “more confused and worried” if they saw their notes. (A lame excuse if ever I heard one.)
The doctors also thought they’d have to work more as a result.
For them, the prospect of you peering over their shoulders meant they would have to be less candid, especially when writing about such touchy subjects as cancer, obesity, substance abuse and mental health.
“I think the doctors felt that they owned the notes,” Delbanco, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Reuters Health. “The medical records are treated like a state secret in most situations.”
What would happen if you were encouraged not just to see their medical records but to take them home, study them and really own them?
What if you became better informed about your care plan and diagnostic results and dared to question your doctors or even doubt their decisions?
Is this a Pandora’s box? Or is it a case of “knowledge is power?”
The good news is that health systems are making it easier for patients like you to get access to prescription lists, lab results and, sometimes, doctors’ notes. Delbanco said one reason is that “the whole world is becoming transparent. The other is that computers make it easier.”
Although most doctors don’t think that showing you their records will increase lawsuits; you may be able to point out mistakes or omissions. But other concerns remain.
Will physicians’ notes change if they know you are reading them? Will patients withhold information they don’t want recorded? Will you be more likely to seek a second or third opinion?
The shared medical record, Dr. Delbanco said, “is a new medicine. It’s designed to help more people than it hurts, but invariably it may hurt some patients. Medicines are never perfect.”
Another article of interest: Find out what your doctor really thinks about you http://www.cnn.com/ 2013/07/01/opinion/prager-your-medical-records/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo
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Resources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/health/policy/project-puts-records-in-the-patients-hands.html
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