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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I'm cross/upset about my daughter's medical record.

39 replies

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:04

So - went with dd to get her some jabs just now, and I had to sit on the couch as there was only one chair - so when the nurse scrolled through dd's records to check what she'd had and when, I saw clearly an entry from 1997/98.

I had collected her from nursery that day and they'd said she'd been 'off' all day, and she was unusually... well... mimsy and cry-y and not herself. Felt hot to me, but perhaps not. I probably was being a bit PFB, in retrospect.

Being a young mum and anxious not to get it wrong, and on the say-so of nursery, and in the context of all the meningitits hype at the time, I rang the surgery that afternoon and they unwillingly gave me an appointment. I remember little about it other than the doctor being rather patronizing and off-hand, and leaving feeling very stupid. never mind all that 'no good doctor would think less of you for getting the baby checked out if you're at all worried' - oh no. Felt properly scorned and dim.

So today I suddenly catch sight of 'infant had been at nursery all day. Infant appeared pink and healthy. Mum would not be reassured and was surly and irritable'.

I suppose I should write it off, it's a long time ago. But presumably every time I've taken her in for anything from chicken pox to verrucas since, the gp has read that before they see us. Which is upsetting, rather. Also I think that the HVs and nurses who saw us when she was small wouold have said I was a good mother, and not a stupid anxious surly unpleasant woman. So it seems unfair that this has gone down as the True Fact.

Also 'surly' is a thing you can be to teachers, or your parents - for a doctor to use that word, to me, implies completely the wrong sort of relationship with patients.

Could I, should I, do anything? And, of course, AIBU?

OP posts:
Kayano · 24/01/2012 18:07

Well it hardly matters does it?

I wonder what mine will say?
'not this one again - delaying everyone's appointments crying and having needle dramas - appears to have no self control'

Wink

There is probably something not right/ pleasant in everyone's records and it was such a long time ago...

Chundle · 24/01/2012 18:09

Yanbu and doctors really should be more professional in their notes as patients can request to view them at anytime!

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:10

Yes, I know. To be honest I could have guessed something like that was getting typed even 13 years ago - it's more the fact that it's there for every HP to read, every time I ever take her in. Which actually hasn't been very often at all, so not as though I've been Munchauseny, as it turns out!

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kreecherlivesupstairs · 24/01/2012 18:10

I think you need to get over it. IMO, Doctors have enough to do without reading back though four or five years worth of records. I imagine that they will look at what diagnosis was made and treatment given.
I am smirking at surly and irritable. Sounds very much like my 10YO.

tyler80 · 24/01/2012 18:11

I was disappointed when they stopped the paper notes. We used to sign in at reception and be given our notes which were great reading material whilst you sat and waited for the doctor

I know my brother's notes have an entry somewhere that says "mother reassured" so I presume not all that uncommon and you're unlikely to have been marked as a trouble maker every time you'd seen the doctor since.

GressingDown · 24/01/2012 18:11

I thought my DS had meningitis when he was a baby and rushed him to A&E only to be laughed at by the doctor who said to me "why do you think he's poorly? hasn't he eaten his rusks today?" in a very patronising manner. Tosser.
YANBU

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:12

But she had seen it within a few seconds of casual scrolling - jabs verruca wart chickenpox surly irritable, it went!

OP posts:
romola · 24/01/2012 18:12

Technically, yes you could do something.
Everyone has the right to request a copy of their health records. Having obtained the paper copy and highlighted the offending section you can then insist on your right under the Data Protection Act to amend the wording. DPA states that information must be accurate, relevant and not excessive, I think you could probably argue that "surly" is not an appropriate medical term and adds nothing relevant to the record.

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:15

romola I guess the problem would be that doing that would make me appear.... ahem.... surly and irritable? Wink

I was only a bloody 19 year old trying to do what I thought was responsible, and that arse patronized and belittled me and then wrote that! Git.

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tabulahrasa · 24/01/2012 18:16

I took my DD to the doctors at 5 months because she was teething...she suddenly started waking up at 1am and doing for 3 hrs, I was pretty sure it was just because her teeth were coming in, but I wanted to have it checked.

Is that not what GPs are for? Minor stuff and stuff that you think is probably ok, but should maybe have it checked just in case.

Kayano · 24/01/2012 18:17

But were you able to be reassured? And could you have 'seemed' surly and irritable?

Wink just stirring shit ignore me Wink

LovesBeingWearingSkinnyJeans · 24/01/2012 18:17

I think you could probably argue that "surly" is not an appropriate medical term and adds nothing relevant to the record

Especially as it refers to you and the records are regarding your dd.

tabulahrasa · 24/01/2012 18:17

that is she did that every night for about a week, not as a one of - that would have been a bit silly

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:19

Well, you are told that it's always best to get things checked out, yes? Even if you feel silly, even if you're not sure.... much better to get a baby checked?

Oh I remember - she was 8 months old, and crying A LOT. Now I'd had her eight months already, I did know how it works - and that 'babies do cry'. But it's also not like with a newborn where they do it for no reason you can see. And he asked if I'd fed her and changed her. Like I might not have thought of that in eight months of having a baby around.

OP posts:
Sposh · 24/01/2012 18:20

It's unusual for a dr to write something like that in patient notes these days, perhaps s/he was having an off day. I routinely spend my days deep in people's medical notes and in the days before Dr's thought patients would ever be able to read their notes some of them used to write the most shocking things. Often about how attractive (or not) the patient was, if female Shock

It makes fascinating if uncomfortable reading!

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:20

No, I wasn't reassured, because he wasn't listening to me and just helpfully told me that babies do cry and had I changed her....? You can't really be reassured if the things you need reassuring about aren't actually heard, I guess.

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backwardLFDTpossom · 24/01/2012 18:26

I have a fairly similar story, actually.

There's a note in my records about a time when I went to an A&E department when I was a student because I thought I had maybe broken a bone in my hand. I hadn't made an appointment as I assumed it was an A&E like any other I'd been to where you just turn up and they see to you when it's your turn. But oh no, it was a cottage hospital and only took referrals (I didn't know this at the time). A doctor reluctantly agreed to see me and basically told me I was wasting her time (I'm crying at this point as was in considerable pain as well as being made to feel like a prick) and she said "why didn't you make an appointment with your GP?" and I said "because I never get a bloody appointment until the following week". She asked if I'd complained about the appointment system and I said yes I had, but had never received any reply.

Fast forward a year or two, and I caught a glimpse of my notes on the computer screen. They said I'd been aggressive (er, what?!) and I'd sworn (bloody is a swear word Hmm) and that I'd "apparently" sent a complaint but there was no record (it actually had apparently in inverted commas i.e. I'm a liar).

I've never known what to do about it. Don't suppose there is much I can do about it at all. :(

YANBU. It's humiliating and very unprofessional.

tabulahrasa · 24/01/2012 18:28

I genuinely wouldn't worry about it, I think it says more about the doctor who saw you than you to someone reading it.

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 18:28

backward - poor you! Humiliating, definitely!

OP posts:
Florieinaweddingdress · 24/01/2012 18:40

YANBU. I'd be bothered about this too. You could write to say that you would like the comment removed. I think that process is with the practice staff, not the doctors so you wouldn't have to worry about getting a further reputation about it.

I wouldn't worry too much though. I'm sure anyone reading it will translate it as 'doctor in a bad mood that day'.

oiwheresthecoffee · 24/01/2012 18:41

I would be upset too. Its a personal comment about you and has nothing to do with your DDs health. And its bloody rude as well.

Hajdeby · 24/01/2012 18:50

Christ, I dread to think what might be written in my medical notes! Best I never try to look I think. Bound to make interesting reading!

MilitaryWag · 24/01/2012 18:59

YANBU...... My GP actually yelled at me down the phone when I was trying to make an appointment for my 6 year old DD (second in two days) and told me she just had a bit of a stomach virus and give her some calpol and to stop panicking over nothing. She was diagnosed with leukaemia the next day when I saw a locum GP who sent her straight to A&E. I will never forgive him for that and refuse to see him to this day. He never apologised either.

Lilithmoon · 24/01/2012 19:05

I know what you mean about notes. I had a funny blood test result years ago showing a raised enzyme in my liver. The doctor jumped straight to alcohol as an explaination. She asked me how much I drank and I said very little; at the time I virtually never drank, maybe once a month or less and a couple of glasses max. She wrote 'denies excessive drinking'. RUDE!
More like a couple of bottles a week now, roll on the Friday drunk thread!

ElaineReese · 24/01/2012 19:07

Oh military, how awful - that puts things in perspective.

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