This is a topic I have advocated for
with patients since shortly after diagnosis. I am not sure why, but
many people are pushing back and saying they don't need copies of
their laboratory results. I am guessing many that are older than I
am have passively followed their doctor and do not have any idea or
care what the results are. They trust their doctor to inform them if
something is out of normal or prescribe a pill to correct the
problem. This implicit trust may be earned, but I can't help but
wonder if this is a wise course of action considering many patients
only see their doctor for 10 to 15 minutes per appointment and many
only see the doctor twice a year.
Even patients younger than myself put
me off saying they don't need them. To this I ask if they know what
the trends are in their test results. Are they holding steady,
heading downward, or heading in the wrong direction. No one can
answer me. Yes, people do seem to be tired of me and my talking
about test results and getting copies of them.
Well, one of my acquaintances found out
the hard way this last week. He was lucky his wife just happened to
forget something needed for her job and came back to get it. He had
collapsed on the kitchen floor and was unresponsive when she found
him. She called 911 and then he was airlifted to another hospital.
He will not be home for some time as his doctors say the normal stay
is in excess of two weeks, and with his condition on arrival, they
are estimating a longer stay.
Turns out his doctor had overlooked a
key test result that would have prevented this and a supplement and
medication would have corrected it without being hospitalized. What
the wife found out from the hospital after they had requested a copy
of the lab results was that the key note was on a page two and the
doctor had thrown page two by mistake. Most lab reports are on one
page unless they are noted page 1 of x pages at the bottom and this
one had nothing. Even most one-page lab reports say page 1 of 1.
The doctors even talked to the wife
about making sure that they get copies of all lab reports and other
test reports. She asked why and was told that this was so they as
patients might spot something the doctor(s) may miss. They stated
that they would take the time to discuss the lab results with them,
how to read them, what to look for, and how to track the results.
The wife still isn't sure she wants lab reports? At least the
husband now wants the test results.
My doctors know me and that I will be
asking for a copy. Normally they like to cover them with me and they
know I will be entering them into a spreadsheet, and even graphing
them. From what I am reading, many people need to go in several days
before the appointment to have the blood drawn or give a urine sample
and then obtain the test results at their appointment. I seem to be
different than most as I go in about 30 minutes or more ahead of my
appointment and have this done and receive the results at my
appointment. Yes, occasionally a test is done from the already drawn
blood sample, and I am told this. I always request a mailed copy
when it is given to the doctor or some will email a copy of the test
results. If I don't receive either within seven working days, I call
the doctor's office and ask. If I am told something like it is in
the mail, I make a point of going to the office and asking for a
copy.
Trisha Torrey at about dot com wrote
about this back in early April and this is very important in today's
medicine when doctor's do not have the time to make phone calls and
do not use technology except for the records and at home for personal
use. Thinking that a test was normal because you received no call
can be life ending in today's medicine. Doctors today do not have
the time that our doctors in the past had.
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