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Ah Debbie - I would laugh if my daughter wasn't up to her ears helping her next door neighbor with the med situation right now. I'm so glad you keep up-to-date listings with you.
Mom-in-law who lives with the neighbor was hospitalized this week for serious med non-compliance resulting in a host of problems. She had been refusing help with her meds and cares, so while she was gone my daughter (an RN) and her friend entered Mom's space and rounded up her meds...they determined she was OD'ing pains meds and ignoring all else including insulin, COPD, BP & heart meds. Too bad her doc hadn't asked for this kind of a check!
Unfortunately I have seen this first hand, and way too frequently - especially when people have multiple doctors who do not share the same patient portal.
Sue
Replies to "Ah Debbie - I would laugh if my daughter wasn't up to her ears helping her..."
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Sue - I know you’re absolutely right. You can’t be over cautious, so you have to respect the rationale the systems use; it’s for our own protection. Before patient portals, 20 years ago, I suddenly collapsed and was on life support several days (undiagnosed heart condition). I had the great fortune of surviving, and went home weeks later with mounds of paper records. I was perplexed to read that it said my prescriptions included an old painkiller and an antibiotic. I found out that my husband just grabbed all the bottles he could find in my closet, and I have a bad habit of not properly throwing out unused or expired prescriptions. The painkiller was leftover from dental surgery 3 years earlier! These things luckily didn’t matter for my care, but I learned you can’t count on others in an emergency; keeping a list (for husband too) and having up-to-date portals now is very important! P.S. - I keep my allergies on that list too.