What do you do when a hospital loses part of your medical records?

Posted by sandyjr @sandyjr, Sep 23, 2021

I had a breast MRI done on 9/16. The report I received from the hospital is very concerning. I have had breast cancer twice and I believe that these views are important. I noticed that the views were compared to MRIs I had done in 2017 and 2018 and asked why the MRI I had done on 3/5/2020 was not used. There was much talking around in circles and evasiveness and long story short, the hospital seems to have lost those views. This is a major hospital in NJ. How could this happen? Aren’t there protocols about protecting this information? I question if this information was deleted or misplaced or what. Most of the information I have received so far has come from the facility that performed the missing MRI. The hospital where the MRI was read seems to be staying quiet on any information about this. What do I do? This is like fighting city hall. How can this info just be gone?

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Chris, Volunteer Mentor | @auntieoakley | Sep 23, 2021

I am not sure how that happens but it does. I am glad they did not lose the other previous scans. That means they do least have some kind of comparison material. When I was initially treated locally, and then discharged from care. I had no follow up scheduled with anyone. So I just outran my cancer for a few years. Then my husbands most amazing oncologist said “geez, I sure would want to know, if I were you”. When they put in the records request, surprise there was nothing. “We lost them all”, apparently when the local cancer center moved into the shiny new building some of us were left behind. Lol. I had a copy of the, at that time patient forbidden pathology report, so I provided that and a detailed description of the treatments. All in all, my new doctor said you know enough and we will just go on from here. Now it’s just a funny story. I hope they find it, and if not I hope it is something that does not cause you lasting harm.

sandyjr | @sandyjr | Sep 23, 2021

I think the most aggravating thing is that the hospital people are lying to me. The person from the practice where the test was preformed is the one that has given me most of the information and I believe she is being honest. This hospital is supposed to be “THE” hospital. The hospital and their people are lying and losing important documentation/tests. If it has happened to me, it probably has happened to others. Well, I have had enough of bad experiences for a while, so will deal with radiologists at the practice that is affiliated with my oncologist. Unfortunately that is quite a distance away. The good news is that I was able to get an appointment with my plastic surgeon for this coming Tuesday. Hopefully he will be able to tell me if what has been reported on the MRI is consistent with the surgery he performed. That should hopefully help me to relax until I see the Oncologist in three weeks. And you wonder why people die in hospitals! There has to be a protocol on handling patient records/views.