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Topic starter
Dr. Bishop was our family doctor for years and I was trying to get our records from Healthquest, the new practice in his office. I was told that they only had records from 5 years ago. They do not have any of Dr. Bishop's records before 2009. I thought medical records had to be kept indefinitely and if they were going to be destroyed, the person had to be notified if they wanted them before they did that???? Does anyone know or have experience with this?
Posted : January 28, 2015 3:06 pm
This article won't solve your problem but demonstrates the numerous grey areas on the subject and that the assumption they have to be kept indefinitely is, in most cases, incorrect:
http://www.thedoctors.com/KnowledgeCenter/PatientSafety/articles/CON_ID_001849
You might call the Department of Health to see what, if any, laws apply to physicians in the USVI.
Posted : January 28, 2015 5:49 pm
I used to think that I would be able to access old medical records stateside, but found out otherwise when I went looking for some. Have found there is no consistency as to how long they are accessible either. Hospitals themselves have told me 25, 20, now one says 10 years and gone.
Some states do have specific laws governing the retention of medical records, but 3,5 and 7 years are some of the timeframes I've seen.
Posted : January 29, 2015 2:02 pm
Topic starter
its frustrating because obviously Dr. Bishop somehow got rid of our records but if I had known he was going to do that, I would have picked them up.. I thought his office staff would have notified me before they destroyed them.
Posted : January 29, 2015 3:27 pm
When I moved to St Croix and selected Dr. Bishop as my primary care physician I turned thirty years of medical history and records to him. When I left the island in 2013 I requested my records and all his staff could produce were a few pages of records from my office visits with him.
All my baseline electrocardiograms, PSA tests, vaccination records, x-rays, etc. were gone.
Posted : January 30, 2015 6:31 pm
That is why I had to drop him as a doctor. I never could get any paperwork, insurance forms weren't filed, and the cramped waiting room was just too much.
Posted : January 30, 2015 8:34 pm
Drs. aren't the only ones to do that.
When I went to move my dogs care from one Vet to another, I had the new vet who purchased the older practice refuse to give me any records for my 4 dogs. He wasn't even there when they were being treated and I paid a pretty penny for them.
Then he wanted to charge me, per page, when I had actually taken the animals to see the vet that owned the practice prior to his purchasing it. Plus, I had xrays and medical records in the file from a PR Vet that I had flown one of the dogs over to for specialized surgery. This man really pissed me off.
Neither was he available during an emergency nor would he do a house call in an emergency for 120 lb dog I couldn't lift on my own.
I was getting ready to take him to court when the other vet that I took the dogs to after leaving that practice, intervened and got my records.
No thanks to that a$$.
Posted : January 30, 2015 9:16 pm
