how can i stop them from finding out about my termination....

[purple23]

I had a termination about a year ago.My doctor was very unsupportive even though i was in floods of tears he sent me away to think about it for a few wks instead of at least refering me to a counsellor. Any way i ended up going priviate. I then went to a family planning centre for my after care and contraception.So my GP didnt have any input.

Since then i lost all faith in my doctor and never visited him for anything until the other day when i needed a prescription for the pill as the f/p was closed.Thankfully i saw the nurse but as she did my bp i noticed on the screen as it was tilted towards me my medical notes it said about how i was upset about being pregnant and asked for a termination etc but was told to think about it etc.There was obviuosly no conclusion written. Now im dreading ever going to the surgery in case they ask questions. Also i want to try for another baby and am terrified of the midwife seeing those notes or asking questions.

I know when they do surgery they will have those notes open. What can i say is there a way of asking them to wipe those notes or if i change surgeries will they be hidden. Its the fact that its right there on the screen for all to see as i havent been doctors for anything else.As if i dont feel bad as it is.

purple you poor thing. It's really important though that you find a GP that you can talk to even if that means changing surgeries. Unfortunately you cannot get the consultation removed from your notes as it is a legal record of what happened.

A good GP won't judge you for your past decision but it is important that he/she knows your full past medical history especially if you do go on to become pregnant.

Purple23, I had a termination when i discovered i was pregnant 3mths after I had dd2.

When i later got pregnant with ds the midwife asked me if i wanted the termination info included on my pregnancy notes.

purple23...Change doctor definitely!!
I had a very judgemental doctor when needed support a couple of years ago..so I avoided the doctors until I found out I was pg.
I couldn't face going back to her so i switched (still in the same surgery tho) and I now have a lovely supportive doctor who has never raised the issue at all.

It really pisses me off that there are still doctors out there who are unprofessional enough to let their personally held beliefs interfere with your care.

You need to feel comfortable with your GP (and trust them!)They are there to provide a service to you!! (sorry feel v strongly about this!)
But there are great professional doctors out there...make sure you find one you are happy and comfortable with....you deserve it.

I'm so sorry that your GP is being useless. I would have a word with your practise manager - your medical records are private and confidential so needed to be treated as such.

I was very impressed when I went for my booking in appointment and the mifwife asked if my babies father was a blood relative and did it with a total poker face - very professional and I'm sure had the answer been Yes she would have remained totally professional - I was more shocked that she had asked me the question!

I hope you can sort it out soon.

expat, it's way down the thread now (only just started to read it ) and off-topic, but I didn't understand what you posted about your GP claiming that children are given vaccinations that don't exist: diphtheria vaccine does exist ,and all children are given the vaccination at the same time as pertussis and tetanus, similarly haemophilus influenzae type B is a "routine" vaccination HIB is a significant cause of meningitis in children. My dd has just had her pre-school boosters and had them.

I consented to being used as a guinea pig for other midwives to practice asking the 'are you a victim of domestic violence' question (apparently midwives must ask it now, but some feel very uncomfortable).

I was chatting to my midwife about it and she said they have a whole series of "codes" that they can stick in your notes, or on the front of them. These codes mostly take the form of coloured dot stickers and indicate an issue that the patient wants the midwife to be aware of, but does not want ever to be discussed openly or written about in the notes, unless initiated by the patient. She says previous rapes and miscarriages are very common and mums-to-be are terrified their partners will find out.

Don't know if this may help.

tissy, a 6 in 1 jab doesn't exist, nor does the disease 'diptheria'. what they are given is a 5-in-1. but if you read my post, this GP wrote: diptheria, pertussis, polio, tetanus, haemophilus, and type B influenza.

that's not true, and a GP of all people should know that! it's diphtheria, pertussis, polio, tetanus and haemophilus influenzae type B - a secondary infection; NOT 'haemophilus' and 'type B influenza'.

btw, children in the UK are not given the 5 in 1 as a booster at pre-school, they're given dTaP/IPV. there's no Hib booster in that, although for kids that age, there should be, b/c it's now known that the efficacy of the older Hib vaccine wanes over time, and Hib is actually on the increase.

but that's a whole seperate issue

this is VERY basic knowledge. in fact, it's right here:
NHSimmunisation

so for a GP to not even be able to correclty ennumerate what the hell he's supposed to be vaccinating a newborn for. well, can't say i trusted him worth a toss.

My midwife has my hospital notes not my gp ones. This is why they ask about previous stuff etc.. If you don't want her to know Don't tell her. Its your business and unless you had complicatuons it should not affect your pregnancy.

And definately change Gp

switching surgeries wont help, the records will follow you. write a letter saying what you told us and ask for the entyr to be removedand take it to the practice manager. they will at least reply and tell you what you are allowed to do. then switch surgeries, but dont just leave it as any midwife seeing that will ask questions.

Actually magnolia 1, thats an interesting point.

What does happen to your ante-natal notes? Are they kept by the GP after you have given birth with other medical records? Mine were kept by the midwife and then given to me after my 20 week scan for DS and current pregnancy - I assume this is standard practice - does the midwife keep a duplicate set or make her own notes? I think I handed mine in to the hospital where I gave birth with DS, but I have no idea where they are now.

If you give your antenatal notes in to the hospital then they keep them

Ante natal notes are retained by the hospital in my area. They're kept with all the other notes you have from hospital admissions. Mine from ds were in my hospital file at my scan appointments and stayed at the hospital. I never got to take them home again or anything. Don't know what different PCT's do though.

Yep, here they are kept by hospital but only the kids you had in that hospital are on there. My midwife has no notes on my twins as they were born at a different hospital.

Purple, I really wouldn't worry hun. It is very unlikely a gp looking at the screen would make comments on previous stuff unless it was relavent to why you are at the surgery. Your midwife will not have access to your gp medical notes.

Wow, so much for consistent approach! I had to volunteer the info about my previous termination, MW wasn't going to ask about it and she hasn't asked me about domestic violence either (Was interested, there, Highlander!).

Mind you, she also ticked that neither of us take recreational drugs without asking - not that we do, but we could! And we have in past life!!!!

Purple, how are you feeling about this all now?

If it were me I would change GPs as I don't think his handling of your request would enable me to trust him about anything else.

Regarding whether the termination should be on your notes, I am inclined to think this should be information which only you should control access to by rights. However, the number of women who have terminations before becoming pregnant again is HUGE - I think about one in three women who are receiving antenatal care have previously terminated pregnancies. So midwives are very matter of fact as it is so usual a situation. And of course it would be HUGLEY unprofessional of them to be anything other than matter of fact about it. They wouldn't pass comment or judgment - neither would it be discussed.

I think what is really important is that it shouldn't matter to you so much whether people disapprove of what you did. Let them. I don't see the necessity for hiding it, lying about it or changing the records. I would admit to the termination and like sallystrawberry said, add calmly but in a strong firm voice, that there were no complications and that I don't intend to discuss it further. End of story.

Hi nutcracker, my situation is similar to you. I also had a termination after having ds. He was only 4mths old and i was really struggling to cope.I really, really did try to convince myself to have the baby. I would not imagine in a million years that it would be something id do. But obviuosly i felt so low and desperate i just couldnt continue the pregnancy for my own mental health.

I did ask the clinic whether i needed to inform the mid-wife in any furture pregnancies and she said no. So im guessing the fact that i already have a child makes a difference with the blood tests.Im sure they even tested me with my first. I really dont want the midwife to know. Like ive said there are some that pass judgement and its not like you dont feel bad as it is.

purple - i think it is relevant information if you happen to be rhesus negative and the father is positive - are you in this category?

Purple, it also sounds (forgive me if I'm wrong) that you're not completely happy with your own decision. Wonder whether that could be impacting on your current feelings. If you might still be negatively suffering from the impact of your termination (you sound as though you feel very guilty, which I understand but never experienced as I knew that I just couldn't cope at that time in my life), would some counselling help? Sorry if I'm way off the mark....

Im not sure what is blood group is. Yeah i do feel guilty. I didnt want to do it but felt that due to my circumstances i had to iykwim. All i could think about was the baby i already had and being able to cope for him. But now hes growing up i cant help thinking about the baby i could of had.

It doesn't matter with the blood group whena termination is concerned. Your bloods will be done and I think you would know if you were rhesus negative if you have hada child before. I am and I couldn't forget how much the dreaded anti d injection hurt.

Purple, do not feel like you have to do anything you don't want to. I recently had my bloods done and when midwife asked about the tests I said no to all apart from the basic ones. My choice, my body, my baby and she was fine with it. No badgering or preaching and I really thought I would have to 'Explain Myself' which I didn't

Thankyou everyone for your supportive advice. Feeling alot better about it all now.

I just wanted to try and answer a couple of questions. Where I work, electronic GP records are printed off when a patient leaves the practice and then sent to the new GP practice, where they are re-entered onto the new computer system.

Your medical records, either on paper or held electronically are confidential. You can ask for this entry to be removed from the computer, although to protect patients from people like Shipman it can never be removed entirely as an audit trail has to be maintained. You can also ask that this information is not shared elsewhere e.g. sent to the hospital for some reason. In general, the practice are likely to share information between GPs and the treatment room, but people like reception staff should not have access to your medical records on the computer.

In my area midwifes do not see the GP records as they work for the hospital, but this differs from area to area.

Hi again, you shouldn't feel guilty, you did what was best at the time as did I. I was suffering from PND and had a 2.3 yr old and 3mth old dd2 so was in fit state to become a mum again at that point.

Like you I never thought it was anything I would do, but I had to think of the children I already had.

I was very worried about people finding out when I got pregnant with Ds especially as my mum worked on the ward where my antenatal care would be. In the end I told her as i'd rather she found out from me. She was shocked but said I should have told her at the time as she would have helped.

I was lucky, my midwife didn't even bat an eyelid when I told her about it. Tbh I only told her because I thought I had to, but she was fine and explained that it didn't have to appear in my pregnancy notes.

IMO you should tell them, but explain how you feel about this information and i'm sure they will be sympathetic.

xxx

questions about previuos pregnancies are standard. They need to know if you got pregnant easily, if you had a termination or miscarriage, where there any abnormalities etc etc.

Midwives are used to your situation. Mine were fine when I said 'yes - termination' when they asked about previuos pregnancies.

Your medical records have to be open to the GP practise you are registered with so that they can tialor your treatment to you.

I think you have two issues here - the treatment you got orginally from your GP which you can complain about. and the fact that other practise staff will see your full medical history. In all honesty I'm not sure you can do anything about your notes.

So change Dr and don't worry baout th enotes! honestly, I may have a low opinion of HV and midwives in general but not one of them batted an eye over me having had a termination perviuosly.