Medical Records
Pat went to see one of his doctors last week. We were glad to see he was still there. I've made copies of all his work ups, visits, labs, bone scans, basically everything he's had done since he started seeing doctors, but I wondered what about all the other people that were in the middle of their cancer treatments (or any other treatments for that matter) that didn't have all that with them when Hurricane Katrina hit? Can you imagine how scary or life threatening that could be? To not have your primary care physician, oncologist, radiation oncologist, urologist, hospital records, x-rays, radiology results, chemotherapy treatments and stages where you were at in your treatments...and then you have to go to somewhere else and expect to get care and start it soon enough? Would it be soon enough? It's not like you could just call up your doctor and get a copy of your chart sent to the new doctor you are now going to have to see...the old doctor can't be reached by phone because his office no longer exists, nor does his answering service. And if you did happen to have a physician that gave out his personal cell number (yes, a few do that) then the cell number might not work.

Okay, then you think you might get your records from the hospital? Well, try doing that after it has been evacuated and there is no one there to get it, or after the entire medical records room has been flooded. (Medical records is usually located on the first floor of most hospitals, by the way.) If the hospital is empty, that pretty well, shot down any chances of getting copies of any x-rays, or CAT-scans, bone scans, etc.

Most physicians can't treat you now until they know what you were getting then. By the time lab work gets repeated, and they find out what toxic levels your blood work is at, how much time have you lost?

When they had suggested to take important papers with you before evacuating for Hurricane Katrina, I took copies of not just our birth certificates, titles, insurance papers, the grandchildren's's immunization records, but also copies of all our medical treatments for just such a reason. Maybe it is because I am a nurse, but I think it is a plan that we will continue to have large manila envelopes on standby for any future emergency departures that we may have to make in our future.

Just a thought.