Ok in the UK you have a right to see medical records. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? Firstly you have yo put in writing your request to see your records. You have to say what you want to see, why you want to see it and they will then look to through the significant records to check that it doesn't contain anything that's detrimental to you.
There must be no mention of others and you only get the records that strictly pertain to the quey you gave. If they think it could cause you distress they can refuse.
But usually one thing will lead to another but you won't get whatever is linked to that specific enquiry. It's so tied down that you rarely get to read anything that relevant.
Babygirl. X
Well I simply said 'I know of threee errors in my medical records (and specified them with time/date/place/witness) one of which has been wrong for over 50 years. I feel it reasonable to ensure that there aren't more'.
I've also caught hospital records being faked and had it altered before it even reached my record. I did not refuse a lumbar puncture - two doctors attempted the procedure over what was quite an unpleasent hour. But I have a compressed spine and told them beforehand that they were unlikely to manage it. That they felt lying was more appropriate should be a concern. Maybe saying 'unable to undertake procedure' would have made them look bad? No idea. But if they lie about that, what else are they prepared to lie about? But I also mentioned that - to see if it had been altered again. So who knows? By the time I got my records - it DID say that the doctor (not plural - one got off the hook) 'had been unable to complete the procedure due to spinal compression in the patient'.
What I WOULD say to anyone in the UK is that HR services have to ask for permission to contact your GP. Say NO! I know for sure that the presumptive tests they use cannot differentiate between codeine, dihydrocodine, morphine and heroin. So if you have taken a couple of Co-codamol, say you don't trust them not to assert it IS something else. Because the DO.
In essence, don't assume that anyone else is in charge of your health. At the end of the day it's your health and your responsibility.
I will conclude by noting that the BNF guide the the prescribing of strong opioids does not mention the word 'pain' ANYWHERE. The far more subjective 'to alleviate unacceptable human suffering' is in fact the metric used. On a personal note, I also call BS on 'pain scores' - the only time you NEED opioids is when you are in so much pain, you can't talk.
I've mentioned previously that it's still important to be in contact with your local HR agency because if you are, the hospital will at least provide methadone simply so that the symptoms of AWS won't hide an underlying illness. The person I know had been at it for 30+ years and I was quite surprised at just how much methadone they were given. In my estimation they wouldn't suffer AWS (so I'm sure you realize that it was a sizable amount).
I might add that this isn't a one-off. A few years ago someone I knew got an infection (femoral) which went untreated. They had to essentially be dragged to the hospital but because they were in contact with their local HR team, the registrar actually asked them how much methadone they WANTED! That was in a different city. So at least in the UK, it does seem that as long as you are in some sort of contact with your local HR team, doctors can be quite reasonable. But only because a patient in AWS is going to have symptoms and that may prevent effective treatment - so the goal is always to seek the best outcome.
BTW The NHS isn't trying to HIDE your records - if you reach my age, collating and checking over five decades of records is costly. The fact that my record STILL failed to note I was allergic to the medication after 50+ and after having the clinicians having been told at least three times (I only recorded the last one in detail) may well have made whoever it was concede I had reasonable grounds, I don't know. I just know you can do it. People seem to assume that your NHS medical record is on a computer - wrong. Almost certainly it's still mostly paper records. If you have lived in a number of cities and indeed a few nations, chasing it all down is a major endevour.
