Falsification of Medical Records

[ChrisEtc]

Anyone have any information on any laws concerning this topic?  Federal or otherwise.  I live in Texas BTW.  I have a nurse who I believe has falsified a bunch of information in my chart and I'd like to look into it.

[jeannea]

I don't know the laws exactly. I suspect you report it to the Health dept of your state or possibly the Attorney General of your state. The health dept usually has an investigative body of some sort.

[bevvy5]

Before you breathe a word of an official complaint get a copy.  Some excuse about worrying about computer failure or some such thing but thta you need  paper copy of your chart.

When we were negotiating a settlement with the hospital, we were told that we should have done that first off.  By the time we were talking numbers, a doctor that we personally know and trust said that records had undoubtedly been changed shortly after we started making a fuss. 

We were not interested in making a lawsuit the focus of our life but if we had it to do over again.

[jbeany]

You are entitled to a full copy of your records.  They will undoubtedly whine and charge you too much, but they can't keep them from you.  I don't know Texas law - but under federal HIPPA rules, you are entitled to your records AND to amend them.

Here's a quick google search for "Texas Law about obtaining your medical records."

http://www.tmb.state.tx.us/consumers/faq/mrec.php

http://www.hpi.georgetown.edu/privacy/stateguides/tx/txguide.html

I'm with bevvy - get the records first - you shouldn't need to put a reason on the form to request them at all.

[Alex C.]

I'm not certain whether this falsification you refer to is just laziness, fraudulent, or malicious. In my case, I challenged comments put into my medical records which were malicious, put in by a doctor trying to discredit me (it's a long story, but let me just leave it by saying that this doctor lost his license, and went to prison). This pre-dated the current laws, and at the time, the best thing I could do was to amend my records with an affidavit. I probably wouldn't have known about this note in my medical record if it hadn't been because of an insurance claim, when they asked me about my past treatment for a narcotics addiction that was fictional. Just being able to amend my medical records took more than 2 years, and I suspect that this fictional 'addiction' probably cost me at least 1 job opportunity, and a college placement that suspiciously failed.

[Fatkidney]

The False Claims Act was put together to protect and prosecute violators of healthcare fraud.  Here's a link; there may be some helpful information. 
http://www.falseclaimsact.com/

I write for a senior fraud website that has a lot of information about this kind of stuff as well. 
http://www.wisconsinsmp.org/

[Lillupie]

I'm not certain whether this falsification you refer to is just laziness, fraudulent, or malicious. In my case, I challenged comments put into my medical records which were malicious, put in by a doctor trying to discredit me (it's a long story, but let me just leave it by saying that this doctor lost his license, and went to prison). This pre-dated the current laws, and at the time, the best thing I could do was to amend my records with an affidavit. I probably wouldn't have known about this note in my medical record if it hadn't been because of an insurance claim, when they asked me about my past treatment for a narcotics addiction that was fictional. Just being able to amend my medical records took more than 2 years, and I suspect that this fictional 'addiction' probably cost me at least 1 job opportunity, and a college placement that suspiciously failed.

Wow that is terrible!

[ChrisEtc]

I'm still waiting to get the records I asked for.  I was hoping to get them yesterday but you know how that goes, everything takes twice as long as you think it should.  I suspect they're falsified, in fact I'm pretty sure they are but I want to make sure before I post any further about it.  I contacted the board of nursing and they said that it's grounds for misconduct charges but I can't find a specific law against it.  I'll post the whole story once I get a copy of everything.  It's actually something really stupid that has just escalated to a ridiculous level and now I'm really angry about it. 

[AnnieB]

This is a very serious situation. Wise to get the records first.

Falsification of medical records can cost a healthcare practicioner his or her license, if not cause criminal charges to be filed. If this happened to you, talk to an attorney.

Anne

[CW]

Wow that is a little crazy... falsifying your info has to be a crime... best way to go about it I think is get some sort of proof and then file an complaint withe the regulatory body that issues licenses to businesses such as these. In my state and county by law they need to post the information for the licensing organization in the clinic..... if this doesn't apply in your state then find out who regulates dialysis clinics in your state... for me it is the health department. File an official complaint after you have gotten proof

Do you know why she would be falsifying your info? Just curious
Also you could locate the renal network in your region and ask them for assistance and advice on this issue

[ChrisEtc]

I was given a copy to look over.  Basically I have a nurse who has been charting information that never happened including all kinds of assessments before, during, and after treatment.  After it had been going on for a few months I finally complained because it felt very unsafe to me and there was a lot of other inappropriate, unprofessional things she had been doing the last four or five months.  I was curious how it was that she could have gotten away with this for so long without anyone noticing and it's because she was just flat out lying in her documentation.  Now they're giving me a bit of a runaround about getting copies of everything but now that I've seen them I know what's there. 

It's been a long running escalation of things with this one nurse.  For about a year she was fantastic, the best nurse ever.  In time i really grew to think of her as a friend.  Then things maybe got a little too personal and some things were said and its been all downhill since then.  It's a big drama now.  She's recommended to me several times that i should switch clinics or just come on days shes not there.  She ignores me, wont help me when i ask or when i need it, and I skip treatments when I know she'll be in charge.  i don't like having to take care of myself in dialysis really, that's just bullshit.  I've tried to talk to her.  In June I sent her some flowers and I wrote her a card just agreeing with everything she said and apologizing, hoping we could move on and be friends again.  It's all I could think of just to let her be "right" and let her have her way hopefully end the hard feelings.  She seemed cool with it, I got her a card and gift for her birthday right before she went on vacation and everything seemed fine.  About a week after she got back from vacation it all blew up again and haven't spoken or dealt with her since which is sort of a problem when she's the nurse in charge of your care and for a few hours each evening, the only nurse there.  I'm finally really pissed about it and I'm ready to do something about it

[justme15]

the nurse should have never crossed the lines of professionalism by becoming 'friends' and getting too personal with you!!
i'm just curious Chris, did you know about this falsification all along, but are now deciding to report her?

[Whamo]

You might have grounds for a lawsuit against the doctor.  It sounds like he'd be broke anyways, but you might give it a shot.   It may lead to a corporation with deeper pockets.   Like the others say, you need a hard copy of your medical records.  Read them, mark the discrepancies with a highlighter, and show them to an attorney that would take on such a case.   Make sure you get a specialist, and one that is willing to take a percentage instead of bill you to death up front.  Lawyers love to pad the bills of ongoing cases.  With a percentage, they get a lot, but only if they win.

[ChrisEtc]

the nurse should have never crossed the lines of professionalism by becoming 'friends' and getting too personal with you!!
i'm just curious Chris, did you know about this falsification all along, but are now deciding to report her?

That's not her fault really.  I'm friends with other people there and I've gotten people flowers and done things during holidays so I didn't see it as a big problem.  It's not a problem with anyone else.   

I wasn't sure about it really which is why I asked to see the documentation.  I just know that for several months she had been completely ignoring me and whenever she was in charge I never got any assessments whatsoever.  I was curious if she just wasn't documenting that she was doing anything which I figured they would notice really fast or if she was lying about doing it.  Turns out, she documented a bunch of things she said she did which never happened.  The reason I finally decided to complain about it was because when my regular tech was out of town, this nurse has always been my backup to stick me (for over a year now).  The first day my regular tech was out of town I let someone else try and it hurt like hell all night long.  The second day I asked the nurse to stick me and she refused to help me.  She made up some BS reason about how she doesn't have experience doing that and how she doesn't do that for anybody despite the fact she'd been doing it for me for a freaking year.  That was the thing that finally pissed me off to no end and that's when I decided to finally complain about what's been going on.