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Disgustingly common, and techs do it too!. I was scanned and the tech wrote that he could see both of my ovaries and my appendix clearly. I had one ovary damaged by an earlier surgery and my appendix was removed when I was 9 years old! To them, it is just hitting buttons and filling in data they forgot to take note of, but to patients it could be the denial of a much- needed test or of insurance coverage.
Also, when I was asked to painstakingly fill out thick survey of medical conditions within my family and extended family, whomever entered the data must have gotten lazy because they left half of the repot out and they misattributed what they DID entered to incorrect family members ( which definitely could exclude me from coverage or testing!). When I brought it up with my doctor he shrugged it off and made a joke about it! Even when I pressed, they refused to correct their “official document”. So, I wrote an “official” medical message, that is supposed to stay part of my official record, and stated all of the errors and detailed the lack of concern.
If this is how it is now, I am sickened to think where high risk patients and the retired will be for care a generation or two from now.
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OMG - this is SOOOOOOOO true!
I've experienced it in many ways, from the angst of months of reinfections (10 surgeries to clean out hospital-born infections! during a hospital stay!!) after my father's back surgery in 2012-13, to being in a "clean ward", where ALL persons in the room had to don gowns, gloves & masks to enter - and where the NURSES entering threw one arm in a gown, if that, and didn't even use the disinfectectant dispenser on the way in!!! And they're in & out of an even higher quarantine patient room next door!!!!
It's amazing - with all due respect to the many doctors and facilities that do do it right, if you can find them - that anything goes without a glitch or worse!
I have always asked a good number of well-informed, well-researched Qs, and more often than not they are ignored by the doctor, or treated as bothersome, and then - yes! when you do fill out those pre-op Qs - esp. when you're NOT FEELING WELL, and you spend 10 minutes and refer to past paperwork to answer their "Pre-Registration" Qs, they call b/c they need to .... ASK YOU THOSE SAME Qs!
Excuse my caps, in a way, but since we don't seem to have underlining or boldface capabilities in our posting forum here, it's the next best thing to convey some emotion, right?
What a waste of OUR time. And then, they enter something that - as you indicated in your post with alarmingly obvious examples of their (gross) negligence! - has no basis in reality & likely could lead to misdiagnoses, insurance issues (which you'd probably never know they were the source of), and on and on.
I don't have answers, but being our own advocates seems the only choice, and I really have to wonder how much advocacy the hospital's "Patient Advocates" really offer, as that's like settling with an insurance company's offer when it is in THEIR interests - not yours - to get it over with.
AND, so importantly as you stated, how on earth could someone really plagued with ongoing pain, disability, age challenges, not to mention financial concerns, POSSIBLY be expected to negotiate this quagmire of obstacles, all placed there for the very reason of discouraging the patient's efforts while ensuring the insurance entity's pockets and executives and shareholders are deeply compensated - in what is really an abuse of the weakest at the most vulnerable time of their lives.
AND our society / judicial system has not provided any significant across-the-board accountability that acts as any kind of deterrent to these practices, and no directives that make the system any more user-friendly to those most in need.
I'll need to leave it at that for now, and again, I have great respect for the systems that perform in the interest of their patients (unwitting customers we are), and navigate this mess with grace, and intelligence, warmth and informed, state-of-the-art outcomes. (Phew! 🤷♀️🤞)
PS - Many many thanks to Mayo Clinic Connect - you and your mentors, volunteers, and participants have made a significant difference in my life - in terms of feeling validated, hopeful, and less isolated, Thank you. 👏