OBTAINING YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS

You are entitled to copies of each and every piece of medical information which concerns you anywhere in the U.S. You have to ask for them, making it clear that you know you can get them, and you often need to insist and accept no excuses. The request for medical records is made at your doctor's office for his office notes and at the medical records department of your hospital for all events happening while you were a patient therein. These usually require you to sign a release of information request form which they will provide for you. There may be a copying charge. If you want to present your records to me for a complete malpractice evaluation or if the records are being collected in preparation for litigation, be sure to specify what you want and do not accept summaries that the health care providers choose to give you. 

Specifically request ... "Each and every page of medical record information available including but not limited to: Office notes, discharge summaries, history, physical exam, progress notes, operating reports, operating room records, anesthesia sheets, consultation requests and reports, all laboratory and imaging results, memos, letters, insurance forms, bills, and all other written records concerning me in your possession. Please do not provide me with extracted or redacted copies, nor be selective in what you think I want, but include all the materials requested whether or not they have been completed or signed. I do not wish to wait for completion; you may send those later."

It is important that you obtain your medical records from all of your medical providers, if you suspect any medical malpractice, before a lawsuit is filed. After a lawsuit is filed, it is more difficult to obtain medical records, and medical records have a way of “disappearing” once lawsuits are filed, on occasion.