if you have been injured while in the hospital, you may suspect that you are the dupe and victim of medical malpractice. To determine whether you did suffer medical malpractice, you must have copies of the hospital and doctor records. You have a right to these records, but you may be required to pay for the copies.
be sure to ask for all of these reports, if applicable:
- all medical reports (diagnosis, tone and treatment, and prognosis)
- tone and treatment notes
- emergency room records
- hospital admission and discharge summaries and instructions
- physical therapy records
- reports and all notes of surgical procedures
- x-ray, mri, and cat scan reports and records
- nurses notes
- lab reports
- doctor notes
basically, you are asking for your entire and complete hospital records. However, you need to review what documents the hospital gives you. It is not uncommon for a patient to ask for the entire and complete hospital record and receive only a portion of the record.
to make sure that you get the entire and complete record, think about your tone and treatment while in the hospital and then look to see if there is a record of that tone and treatment. For example, you may know that certain blood test were conducted. Make sure that you receive copies of the lab reports for the blood tests.
if copies of any records appear to be missing, then tell the hospital what you think is missing and tell the hospital again that you want copies of all of your medical records. Missing records can include a entire and complete group of records such as nurses notes or a portion of certain records such as nurses notes for a particular time period.
often, a hospital will ask why you want a copy of your records. Do not tell the hospital that hospital personnel committed medical malpractice. At this point, you really do not know if there was malpractice. Instead, tell the hospital that you just want to know everything that happened to you while in the hospital. Do not lie. If the hospital ask if you are experiencing personal and specific problems and you are experiencing personal and specific problems, tell the hospital about the problems.
in addition to hospital records, be sure to ask you doctor for a copy of all of his/her records concerning your diagnosis, tone and treatment, and prognosis.
this is general information only. If you have any questions whatsoever, talk with a lawyer licensed in your state.
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