So I have this great new doctor / nurse practitioner. I did blood tests for her and everything seemed hunky dory. We chit chatted about my health and nothing overly exciting came up. I mentioned that I had a bad family doctor who would have more files on me should she want them. She said sure, why not, and faxed them for the info.
Now I have a message on my machine from Crazy Family Doctor saying I'll need to pay $40 and come in person to pick up the files. She also wants to know why I'm leaving. Crazy Doctor is nowhere near my home or my work, and I'd pretty much have to use vacation time to get out there. Also, I don't want to pay $40. Plus, if I got onto the topic of why I'm leaving, I'd probably get very angry and say rude things. I don't really want to do that. I mean, I wouldn't mind telling her the basics, but I don't want the chance to go off on a tangent.
My question is: can I just forget about the files, which aren't terribly exciting anyways, tell Crazy Doctor to suck it and never go back? Do I really need to have those papers transferred? My new nurse practitioner didn't seem to care either way.
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11 comments:
What a pain in the ass! As if she's rude like that to you, then asks you for $40 + explaination. No wonder you call her a Crazy Doctor. I'd say, forget about those documents and just get the tests redone.
If there are no important records in those files (for example, if you were diabetic, if you had a serious disease, spent a lot of time on meds, etc) that your current caregiver should absolutely have, then I would go with the suck-it option.
PS: Nurse practitioners are the best. I've had the same one since the mid 90s, and it's a tremendous way of doing primary care.
Thanks for your input guys... Perhaps I will take the suck-it option after all. It's way more fun, too.
I vote for the suck-it option, too. I had my daughter's files from her specialist transferred to Ottawa when we moved and it was free and they only sent like 10 pages out of 500,and nobody ever even looked at them.
Same thing happed to me when I got pregnant with DJ - a$$hole Dr was well, an a$$hole, and when I found a kick-a$$ doctor, they would only transfer my files for a $40 fee - I decided there was really nothing worth transfering and then just wrote a quick note stating I was to no longer be considered a patient - apparently, they get $$ for each patient even if they never come into office and I did not want him to get money on my behalf!!!
We changed doctors about four years ago and I had all our files moved (mine, my husband's, and our two kids). We had to pay $40 for each of the adult files and $20 for each of the kid files. I was bitter but I did it anyway. I didn't have to see any doctors at our old clinic to get my hands on the copies -- I had to go in to make the payment, but I just gave the receptionist a cheque and she faxed it all over.
I have to say I think it was worth it. Our new doctor is KICK ASS and she actually read through all the old stuff, and we found out lots of things that our old doctor had never bothered to tell us. Also, it had all our past immunization records in there -- important for me as otherwise I would have had to have a duplicate and unnecessary tetnaus shot (although, I would have treated myself to a milkshake afterwards, so there's that lost).
Anyway, I think the file transfer fee is pretty standard and I think you can avoid talking to your old doctor if you do want to get the file...but sounds like you can live without.
In other news (now that I'm writing a novel in your comments section), I found your MySpace page and your music samples there are just lovely. Your voice is gorgeous!
I'm against the file transfer fee. It happened to me too, but nobody told me there was a charge. Just a bill that showed up at my house a week later! Angry!
I believe they are your files. If you do want them, I think you can step up to their counter in person and tell them to hand them over to you. No copies, no mailing, just hand them over. I think if you ask for them right out, they can't deny them to you. And crazy doctor doesn't need the copies...
Wow. Here's where it could come in handy being a blogger. You tell Crazy Doctor that if you have to pay the $40 you're going to blog about the entire experience and you're going to name her.
This reminds me of a legal case I read last week. Cardy v. Trapp, 2008 CanLII 59096 (ON S.C.).
Mr. Cardy had some swollen nodes. Dr. Trapp told him he should get them looked at.
Cardy changed doctors a few days later. The new doctor, Jhaveri, didn't get Cardy's records and nobody mentioned the swollen nodes until 18 months later when Cardy brought it up.
Dr. Jhaveri ordered tests immediately and they discovered it was cancer.
"Surgery for a total thyroidectomy and left neck dissection followed. Follow up tests disclosed a cancer that was also in the lungs and liver. Randy Cardy is currently permanently disabled to the extent that any employment is not possible. He is receiving the medication sandostatin and his prognosis is guarded but terminal."
I'd pay the $40.
errr, does she practise at Riverside Hospital? This story sounds verrrry familiar.....
Meanie... She practices near Elmvale, so it's possible she does some work at Riverside.
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