So, I am volunteering at a local hospital for my junior league placement this year. I get the application and it says that you have to show proof of having your shots ect. So, I start the mission of finding said proof. First I call my doctor's office. Well I run into a problem. Let me first share with you the back story.
I went to a doctor we will call Dr. A as my pediatrician until she retired in 2000 the year I graduated from high school. So then the next year when I transfered to Baylor (2001) I went to Dr. H who took over all of Dr. A's case load. The first problem was that when I first went they did not have any of my records from Dr. A which should have been my first red flag, but I was only 20 and who would listen to me, nobody that is who. Then in 2006 I went back to Dr. H for a physical. They told me that they destroy all medical records if you have not been a patient for over 2 years. So they started me a new chart. ( NOTE: this is chart number 2 that they are starting) When I finally got to see the doctor she told me that she asked her nurse if she had seen me at all in the past cause she remembered seeing me. So, her nurse says no she is a new patient you have not seen her before. Then she said she had. So then I had to go back like a couple of weeks later to get a TB shot or something. I called to schedule the appointment. They had my records then. I go in like two weeks later and it went something like this.
First I sign my name in and wait, and a second person comes in a goes back. I am STILL waiting. Then a second person comes in and goes on. I am still waiting. Then finally they call me to the desk. They say have you changed your name since you have been here? I say no, thinking A. I was just here two weeks ago and B. I would have told you that. So then they keep looking and decided to start me a THIRD new chart. I say so you have lost it again that is the third time. The nurse says no its only the second. They blame it on the fact that they had recently moved. I think that they just are really not very organized. So I do not go to dr. H anymore cause I do not feel that her staff is very organized.
So, fast forward to 2009. I get my application to fill out and begin filling it out for the local hospital. I decide to call the medical records place for Dr. H. I speak to a really nice lady who was so helpful. So she looks in my chart says the first time I was a patient was in 2006 I tell her no it was in 2001 and you all have SEVERAL charts for me. So she looks it up and finds two more charts in the records. She checks the warehouse and does not find anything. Then she went to check to see if they doctor was there and could answer any questions. She says she has gone home for the day and would ask her in the morning and call me back. So, she calls me this morning and leaves a message saying that it has been shredded because of the HIPPA law and that they must have done it before I was a patient there. So I think that maybe she just never got my originals or something. So I am like great.
So next I call the school district and they said they shred them after 7 years and I was 2 years too late but was wished good luck. So, next I decided to email the lady at the local hospital. She says that if I can not prove that I have had the MMR shot by a doctor I will have to do it all over again and the hospital will pay for it and not just take my word for it. AHHHHHH. So, now my mom is helping seeing if we can find something.
So what we have learned from this is ALWAYS ask what HIPPA is and ALWAYS get copies of your medical charts because people will just throw them away.
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