UPDATE #7 - EFM readout - how do I get a copy of this?

[jennica]

I ordered mine and ds's medical records, but the EFM readouts were not included. They are what I wanted to see most of all. Do I have a right to these records? If they are not a part of the standard medical records that I ordered, then how do I get them? Do they still exist somewhere in my files at the hospital (it's been over two years)?

[Mama2Xander]

I've heard that some hospitals don't include them unless you specifically request them. Something to do with the extra photocopying, I think? (can't be put through an automatic feeder, takes up a lot of paper, etc). Or maybe that is just an excuse

Good luck!

ETA: meant to add that the hospital should definitely still have them, they have to keep them for 18 years I think. And yes, you do have a right to see them.

[jengacnm]

The strip should be included. If they say you have to pay again for it, or if they balk, ask them if you need to contact your lawyer to get them.

[BeckiCNM]

Many hospitals have gone to keeping EFM strips exclusively on the computer (i.e. not having paper strips anymore). These aren't usually printed out to go in the chart when it gets filed in medical records. You should be able to get them, but you may have to specifically request them, since they may need to retrieve them off their electronic records.

[mendomidwife]

Our local hospital keeps the EFM record filed separately from the chart. You may have to ask for it - sometimes the hospital employees that work in medical records don't know to include it. You do have a right to see it.

Carla

[BetsyS]

These sometimes get lost, as well, especially if your hospital wasn't computerized in its charting when you were in labor.

I was in a malpractice suit many years ago, and they could find part of the strip, but not all of it. (And it was a strip that would have made the hospital look good, so they had high motivation to find it....it just was nowhere to be found)

[jennica]

So I called the hospital :

My conversation;

me: I ordered my sons medical records and the EFM readouts were not in them and I'm wondering what I have to do to get them.

her: You can fill out our form and we will send you these records.

me: Well, I've already filled out the form and I requested that I be sent ALL records pertaining to my son, yet I didn't receive the EFM readouts. If I fill out the form again, and they copy and send me his file again, wont I just get the exact same thing I got last time?

her: Maybe you didn't request that initially, you just have to fill out this form and you will get the EFM readouts if that's what you want.

me: I requested ALL records pertaining to my son, how could I have been more clear than that? And why do I have to fill out this form again when I already did it?

her: Please hold...
...Oh yes, you did fill out a form and you did specify all records on this form.

me: So then, what happened to the EFM readouts, why were they not included when I specified that I wanted ALL records?

her: Oh, well the file has about 200 pages of stuff and we charge a fee for copying it so when people request their records we just send them what we think they will need and then wait for them to call to request more.



me: Okay, so, let me get this straight, I filled out a form for myself and for my son and I specifically specified that I wanted ALL records pertaining to the both of us, and I made a special note on the form that I wanted all records, yet you only sent me a small fraction of what was in the file? When I said that I wanted ALL the records, I meant ALL OF THEM! What should I have wrote on that form in order for you to send me all of my records?!?!?!?!

her: Well you need to pay for your records, because there is so much to copy, we can't just send you everything.

me: But I filled out the form and said I wanted all the records, and then I was sent records, how was I supposed to know that I had to pay for more or that there was more in our files?

her: Well, you have to prepay to get them, do you want to prepay and get your sons EFM sheets?

me: Umm, yeah, like I wrote to you guys over a year ago, I want ALL OF HIS RECORDS and I want ALL OF MINE TOO!!! I want everything, the entire file, all of it. I'm not sure how I could have made that more clear in the form I filled out?

her: (after giving her my name) We don't have a form from you, you didn't fill one out, so you will have to fill out a new form.

me: I did fill out a form, I have my records.

her: We don't have your form, you didn't fill one out, you will need...

me: Listen, I'm not lying to you! I filled out a form for myself about 2 years ago, and then one for my son a year ago, and I currently have both of our records in my possession, so I obviously filled out a form. You must have lost it, so send me a new one and I'll fill it out AGAIN.

her: Okay, you will have to fill out a new form, and then we will send you all the records for you both.

me: But am I going to get ALL the records?

her: Yes, because you will have to prepay.

me: Right now?

her: No, when you send the form back then we will collect your payment and then send you all of your records.

me: Okay, thank...

her: -click-


So, I guess when I requested ALL of my medical records, they somehow thought that I meant .5% of my medical records I am so mad at that UA violation of a hospital right now. For two YEARS I've gone over and over those records, feeling like there must be more, somewhere, and there was! They just withheld them from me after I explicitly requested them!!!: Isn't that illegal or something? How can they do that?

[nashvillemidwife]

In their defense, as was mentioned previously, EFM generates a lot of paper and is often not kept in the paper chart. Copies of the tracings are rarely requested outside of lawsuits so I don't think it's unreasonable that the person copying your chart would need specific instructions to go to an entirely different record keeping system to retrieve records that didn't occur to them you would want. They're not mind readers. What means "all" to you does not mean "all" to them, that doesn't make them stupid or uncooperative.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by nashvillemidwife

In their defense, as was mentioned previously, EFM generates a lot of paper and is often not kept in the paper chart. Copies of the tracings are rarely requested outside of lawsuits so I don't think it's unreasonable that the person copying your chart would need specific instructions to go to an entirely different record keeping system to retrieve records that didn't occur to them you would want. They're not mind readers. What means "all" to you does not mean "all" to them, that doesn't make them stupid or uncooperative.

Oh come on, let me have my venting moment here It's not that I think the individuals are stupid, I was more upset at the entire system, and the fact that she said that they only sent me a tiny fraction of the records for both Ds and I after I requested them all. I realize that the EFM stuff may be in a separate place, which I never really got out of her or made her understand, so I am sure I will have more conversations with them before I get them, but what got me mad was the fact that our files are sitting there with 200 pages of stuff in them and even though I requested all of that stuff, I was only sent a tiny part of it. And more frustrating than that is that no one told me that there was more, and if I wanted it I could have it, I just had to pay. I mean, I asked for all of it, how could I have asked for all of it in a way that made them understand that I wanted ALL of it?