How Do I Obtain Review Of Medical Records?

How do I go about finding a pulmonologist or infectious disease specialist to review hospital
medical records?

My elderly father passed away after receiving what I suspect is grossly substandard care. I would
like to find someone who would review the records and render an opinion. I'm told that doctors
within a medical community are usually reluctant to do this.

Thanks for any advice.

alburma4u wrote:

> How do I go about finding a pulmonologist or infectious disease specialist to review hospital
> medical records?

Call and/or email around. Attorneys specializing in medical malpractice lawsuits typically have
doctors that they rely on.

>
> My elderly father passed away after receiving what I suspect is grossly substandard care. I would
> like to find someone who would review the records and render an opinion. I'm told that doctors
> within a medical community are usually reluctant to do this.

There is truth in what you were told.

>
> Thanks for any advice.

You are welcome.

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
http://www.heartmdphd.com/

I'm sorry for not responding to your notes earlier and thank you all for the advice.

Most of you recommended that I contact a malpractice attorney. I don't know how it works in your
part of the country but where I live
(DC/MD/VA) it goes like this: You can get almost any lawyer on the phone in no time flat and they
are going to give you 5 minutes to explain what happened. As soon as they hear the age
they will tell you that even if everything you are alleging is true and provable, the
economics don't add up. Malpractice cases take 2 years to litigate and awards are based
mostly on future economic loss. Since a 90 year old doesn't have much earning potential
you would anticipate an award of 100k or less. With expert testimony, discovery and court
appearances, the cost of litigation will run 35-50k. The lawyer wishes you well and says
he has to take another call. So no, you can't even get in the lawyer's front door much
less have him pay to evaluate records.

I can't talk to the doctor I am suspicious of because he and his associates were openly hostile to
me for even wanting my father treated. Is he likely to admit to deviating from the standard of care?
Will a hospital admit to this? How do most doctors feel about aggresively treating a healthy and
strong 90 year old who is happy to be alive and shows up at the hospital with pneumonia? Is it
common for a doctors along with their nursing staffs to decide to "do the minimum they can get away
with" and finally to "take a patient down" by withholding treatment even if this is directly against
the family's wishes?

Does the above rant sound familiar? A grieving family member taking med records apart and looking
for a conspiracy under every rock? Do you think it conceivable that what I'm describing may
actually have occurred? It was all that and worse. And the doctors did it (I assume) because they
genuinely believed they were doing us a favor. But the hostility! ...and more importantly I fear
they made a medical mistake. No matter, my dad's life is cheap and they knew they could do as they
wished with impunity.

So, I really need a good medical analysis from an outside source. If it indicates that my father was
in fact treated well and received the proper standard of care but just couldn't pull through I will
indeed be comforted. If it shows otherwise, a review could provide a medical board and the hospital
with added impetus to do a through investigation and to take proper action.

Can any of you help? I'm not interested in "getting something for nothing," I would like to pay the
going rate for a qualified expert who is willing to do this favor for me - or at least tell me if my
suspicions have merit.

"Kent H." <kh6444@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<3F5D53FA.2354839@comcast.net>...
> This thread is rather long and leaves out the following important point. Why don't you go to the
> doctor you are suspicous of and ask the question you are asking this NG. What went wrong?? He may
> be more illuminating than any of us have been. He may provide you with a simple understandeable
> answer to your question. It's possible he did everything correctly. Good Luck Kent
>
> alburma4u wrote:
> >
> > How do I go about finding a pulmonologist or infectious disease specialist to review hospital
> > medical records?
> >
> > My elderly father passed away after receiving what I suspect is grossly substandard care. I
> > would like to find someone who would review the records and render an opinion. I'm told that
> > doctors within a medical community are usually reluctant to do this.
> >
> > Thanks for any advice.

On 9 Sep 2003 20:28:13 -0700, alburma4u@yahoo.com (alburma4u) wrote:
>
>I can't talk to the doctor I am suspicious of because he and his associates were openly hostile to
>me for even wanting my father treated. Is he likely to admit to deviating from the standard of
>care? Will a hospital admit to this? How do most doctors feel about aggresively treating a healthy
>and strong 90 year old who is happy to be alive and shows up at the hospital with pneumonia? Is it
>common for a doctors along with their nursing staffs to decide to "do the minimum they can get away
>with" and finally to "take a patient down" by withholding treatment even if this is directly
>against the family's wishes?

Thank you giving us more details.

Does the hospital have an ombudsman? This would be a good case for him -- discrepancy between the
medical actions taken and the family's stated wishes.

PF

pfriley@watt-not.com (PF Riley) wrote in message news:<3f5ea268.210386624@news.nwlink.com>...
> On 9 Sep 2003 20:28:13 -0700, alburma4u@yahoo.com (alburma4u) wrote:
> >
> >I can't talk to the doctor I am suspicious of because he and his associates were openly hostile
> >to me for even wanting my father treated. Is he likely to admit to deviating from the standard of
> >care? Will a hospital admit to this? How do most doctors feel about aggresively treating a
> >healthy and strong 90 year old who is happy to be alive and shows up at the hospital with
> >pneumonia? Is it common for a doctors along with their nursing staffs to decide to "do the
> >minimum they can get away with" and finally to "take a patient down" by withholding treatment
> >even if this is directly against the family's wishes?
>
> Thank you giving us more details.
>
> Does the hospital have an ombudsman? This would be a good case for him -- discrepancy between the
> medical actions taken and the family's stated wishes.
>
> PF

-And if such a discrepancy cost a man his life (ie he *may* have had a shot at getting out of the
hospital) should it cost the doctor his medical license? I don't think there is an ombudsman per se
but the hospital did offer to have a meeting with me.

Come on Howard! Who pays you $500/hour in Waseca????

Howard McCollister wrote:
>
> "alburma4u" <alburma4u@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:c35c171c.0309071324.4e4851fb@posting.google.com...
> > But therein lays the problem. If the patient is overly elderly you can't find a lawyer who will
> > even offer to look into it. Because an 89 year old (even a healthy and vigorous one) has
> > outlived his book value it's not worth a lawyer's time. This leaves me, the layman, with medical
> > records that I would still like analyzed for my own peace of mind. Where do I find a doctor who
> > would help me?
> >
>
> I have never seen that to be the case. Did you actually talk to a few lawyers, and they turned you
> down? Or are you just making that assumption?
>
> First, get the medical records. All of them. Not just from this hospitalization, but ALL of them.
> Including the records from his doctor's office or clinic, and any nursing home records he may
> have. No matter what the state, you should have no trouble getting these records if you are the
> next of kin.
>
> Once you have the records, call your state's medical society, and ask them if they can help you
> find a pulmonologist/ID specialist to do this work. If they can't help you with that, the only
> thing you can do is call around, or write, and personally ask each target doctor if they will
> review the records. To find the doctors, you can look in the phone book, you can go to your
> state's medical society and get a list of pulmonologists or ID specialists. Or you can go to the
> American Board of Medical Specialities, look at the section on American Board of Internal
> Medicine, and search for pulmonologists, and/or ID specialists. Then call, write, or email them to
> find out if they'd be willing to review the records. Look at http://tinyurl.com/mkg4
>
> You may find some that would be willing to do this, but my guess is that it will be tough. Not
> because of any "conspiracy of silence" or such nefarious thing, but simply due to the fact that
> reviewing such records is time consuming, doesn't pay well, and isn't particularly emotionally
> rewarding. I review medical records for attorneys all the time. I charge $500 per hour, same as
> for medical testimony, and it often takes me a couple of hours to review a full set of hospital
> and clinic records.
>
> HMc

"alburma4u" <alburma4u@yahoo.com> wrote in message

> -And if such a discrepancy cost a man his life (ie he *may* have had a shot at getting out of the
> hospital) should it cost the doctor his medical license? I don't think there is an ombudsman per
> se but the hospital did offer to have a meeting with me.

I would take them up on that on the possibility that they will be able to address your concerns
without the same degree of entrenched hostility that you say you've encountered from the doctors
that were taking care of your father Often, these situations are more the result of misunderstanding
due to poor communication. They may agree to have it reviewed by an outside reviewer. The problem
you may have is that even if they agree to have it reviewed by an outside reviewer, that review and
opinion will fall under the category of peer review and as a result will be privileged and non-
discoverable. They won't be able to share anything about that review with you, nor even with your
attorney. They would have to be very careful with what they could tell you about such a review,
since if they tell you *anything* about it, an attorney could make a case that they have to tell you
*everything* about it.

Nevertheless, you may find that clearing up any communication problems *might* give you the peace
you are looking for. Given the intransigence of the attorneys you have talked to, your only other
option would be the rather unlikely chance that you can find a qualified specialist to review the
case for you.

HMc

a) I would definitely meet with the hospital -- as they offered to do. Sometimes the "ombudsman" is
termed a "patient representative." This person can mediate / communicate with your dad's doctors
if needed.

b) How many attorneys have you contacted? Keep looking... i'm sure there's somebody out there who
won't turn away from at least reviewing the case... there are tons of malpractice attorneys.

c) How can you not even consider *talking* to the treating physician and asking him/her to
explain what happened? Is there something specific in the medical record that you are
concerned about? Many medical records reflect poor documentation with illegible scrawlings and
little to draw conclusions from... How do you know the doctors "decided with nursing to do the
minimum they could get away with" ? Was your father receiving regular medical care from
another doctor? Did you consider asking for an autopsy? What, exactly, did you consider to be
"grossly substandard care" (which is what you alleged in your first posting). There must be
something specific that is leading you down this path -- forget about the chart review. Did he
not get antibiotics? Was he not properly monitored? How exactly did the doctors explain his
death? Did you want him intubated? Was your father able to make his own medical decisions, or
was he relying upon you to make them for him? Did he tell the doctors what he did/didn't want?
Were you there 100% of the time?

I can't imagine any physician taking on the responsibility of reviewing records given to him/her by
a family member (with no assurance that they are complete and unaltered) and then being asked to
submit a report to a local medical society/medical board ... I think you already have an idea that
something bad happened -- so you owe it to yourself to talk to anybody you can. Most physicians /
hospitals will be eager to avoid a lawsuit and will likely be very interested in answering your
questions. You have nothing to lose. Talk to them. Ask them any question you want.

"alburma4u" <alburma4u@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c35c171c.0309100534.793df91c@posting.google.com...
> pfriley@watt-not.com (PF Riley) wrote in message
news:<3f5ea268.210386624@news.nwlink.com>...
> > On 9 Sep 2003 20:28:13 -0700, alburma4u@yahoo.com (alburma4u) wrote:
> > >
> > >I can't talk to the doctor I am suspicious of because he and his associates were openly hostile
> > >to me for even wanting my father treated. Is he likely to admit to deviating from the standard
> > >of care? Will a hospital admit to this? How do most doctors feel about aggresively treating a
> > >healthy and strong 90 year old who is happy be alive and shows up at the hospital with
> > >pneumonia? Is it common for a doctors along with their nursing staffs to decide to "do the
> > >minimum they can get away with" and finally to "take a patient down" by withholding treatment
> > >even if this is directly against the family's wishes?
> >
> > Thank you giving us more details.
> >
> > Does the hospital have an ombudsman? This would be a good case for him -- discrepancy between
> > the medical actions taken and the family's stated wishes.
> >
> > PF
>
> -And if such a discrepancy cost a man his life (ie he *may* have had a shot at getting out of the
> hospital) should it cost the doctor his medical license? I don't think there is an ombudsman per
> se but the hospital did offer to have a meeting with me.