How should I handle this doctor?

V

Victor

Senior Member
Location
midwest USA
Two years ago I noticed mentions of depression and other problems on my medical record.
at my PCP doctor. Assuming it is irrelevant and I think false diagnosis, I asked her to remove it.
After a brief interview, she agreed, reluctantly. Months after, I asked her again and she said yes,
she did remove it. Still I was suspicious because she stopped giving me paper copies of the records.
This week, I discovered that she did not delete this, at all. She lists it under 'past concerns'. Well,
that is lying, unless she has a strong reason. I will see her next week and talk about it.
Besides that, she has been good for me for the past years, and I am satisfied with her and convenient clinic.
HMO, by the way. Your thoughts?
 

What was the reason they entered depression into your records in the first place?
You must have said something for them to do that. And mentioning it is not being diagnosed with it.

I think that having it in past concerns is the best you can do. One cannot ask that medical information be removed from records.
 
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That Lady in PA said:
What was the reason they entered depression into your records in the first place?
You must have said something for them to do that. And mentioning it is not being diagnosed with it.

I think that having it in past concerns is the best you can do. One cannot ask that medical information be removed from records.
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Not at all. The doctor may gain financially by prescribing an rx for depression. If so, that is public information.
 
Victor said:
Two years ago I noticed mentions of depression and other problems on my medical record.
at my PCP doctor. Assuming it is irrelevant and I think false diagnosis, I asked her to remove it.
After a brief interview, she agreed, reluctantly. Months after, I asked her again and she said yes,
she did remove it. Still I was suspicious because she stopped giving me paper copies of the records.
This week, I discovered that she did not delete this, at all. She lists it under 'past concerns'. Well,
that is lying, unless she has a strong reason. I will see her next week and talk about it.
Besides that, she has been good for me for the past years, and I am satisfied with her and convenient clinic.
HMO, by the way. Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
My doctor's been pushing the depression thing, too. And I talked to her about it. I simply told her I'm bummed-out, but I'm not depressed. I told her that getting old and losing some of your abilities is a bummer, that's all. No one likes it, but we don't necessarily want to take a bunch of pills for it. They don't cure aging.

Neither will counseling or basket-weaving or joining some senior group that gets bused to the art museum once a month...that's shyte's just depressing.
 
Victor said:
Two years ago I noticed mentions of depression and other problems on my medical record.
at my PCP doctor. Assuming it is irrelevant and I think false diagnosis, I asked her to remove it.
After a brief interview, she agreed, reluctantly. Months after, I asked her again and she said yes,
she did remove it. Still I was suspicious because she stopped giving me paper copies of the records.
This week, I discovered that she did not delete this, at all. She lists it under 'past concerns'. Well,
that is lying, unless she has a strong reason. I will see her next week and talk about it.
Besides that, she has been good for me for the past years, and I am satisfied with her and convenient clinic.
HMO, by the way. Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have a PPO plan, so I'm not restricted to a particular primary care doctor. I don't know the rules on changing primary doctors on an HMO plan, but it can be done because I know someone who has.

You wrote, "after a brief interview, she agreed, reluctantly" [to remove it]. Upon questioning her a second time, "she said yes, she did remove it," yet you discovered she did not.

Then you mentioned "she has been good for me for the past years." If that is enough to dismiss her apparent dishonesty, fine, but it wouldn't be for me. I would be finding a new doctor.
 
Maybe it is the way you expressed yourself and she thought you were depressed. She should have discussed it with you if that was her concern. I don't know what you can do with it on your record. I guess you can just deny or say it was only her opinion when it is mentioned by another doctor. She shouldn't have said she took it off when she didn't take it off your record, in my opinion.
 
Is she the same doctor that originally entered the depression? If not she will be very reluctant to remove it from your history.

Lying to you about it is another matter, if she promised to do it but has no intention to follow thru time to change doctors.

As a side note I became aware my history also has a "major depression" diagnoses. When I looked into it turned out back when I was getting divorced I told my doctor I was very stressed, feeling anxious and having trouble sleeping, somehow that was recorded as depression, I was never depressed, just stressed to the max. My point being maybe that's just a generic term they use after you complained of something else.
 
There must be 50 ways to leave your Primary Care Physician.

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free
 
She prescribes an antidepressant. med for me for many years and for OCD which is under control. It was diagnosed decades ago but it is not an issue now. A false serious diagnosis is listed too,that I never knew about it
What gets me is the deceit. This is a privacy issue. No one, not even other doctors and nurses need to know about it unless it is necessary for treatment for physical issues. For surgery and new meds. And your pharmacist. My family doesn't even know
 
Victor said:
She prescribes an antidepressant. med for me for many years and for OCD which is under control. It was diagnosed decades ago but it is not an issue now. A false serious diagnosis is listed too,that I never knew about it
What gets me is the deceit. This is a privacy issue. No one, not even other doctors and nurses need to know about it unless it is necessary for treatment for physical issues. For surgery and new meds. And your pharmacist. My family doesn't even know
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You were diagnosed and under treatment for years. Now you mention a "false serious diagnosis".
I think you are incorrect in saying that your medical and treatment history can be modified as you think the problem has been corrected/eliminated. Depression is not a broken leg.
 
Well here goes nothing. There is a difference between simple depression and clinical depression. Clinical depression is profound, unrelenting and often needs intervention to improve. That is why clinical depression is listed as a mental illness. Simple depression is transient and will pass given time.
Your doctor made a subjective observation of you. This is not earth shattering…simply an observation. If you are in the united states and taking medications used for depression than the doctor must chart some reasoning for their prescribing a scheduled drug…or their license can be in jeopardy. . .
 
Sorry for what you're going through; it's awful to not be happy with your doctor. Luckily, I like our primary care physician okay, which is lucky because around here unfortunately, it's hard as hell to find a doctor (or even a physicians assistant or nurse practicioner).
 
Here in Australia if you have a certain medical condition thats added to your health record at your GP ,
it’s noted on your drivers licence and you have to have a medical each and every year before the transport dept will renew your drivers license ….how do I know for sure ? My hubs has A F ( Atrial fibrillation) which is a fairly common
ailment but it’s printed on his new licence that’s just been renewed as it is every year around his birthday .

I believe It’s also noted on drivers licences , if you have a condition that comes under the Mental health act.

As for myself I had a huge fight to get a medical diagnoses removed from my records , some 10 years ago .
I was sent for a colonoscopy due to having Diverticular , when I attended for the appointment the doctor said oh you had polyps removed a year ago…….NO ….I did not …and she gave me dates ….and 100% insisted it was ME
despite me saying NO ….it was not me ….id never had a colonoscopy before ……

Anyway I’d always kept a diary so I checked the dates …contacted Medicare …asked my GP if such a thing was in my records

Dates in diary showed I was in Queensland for a month at the time ~ so I was 2000 + km from where it was claimed I’d had the polyps removed ….id developed a nasty cold while up in QLD so I’d been to a doctor …had a chest xray ….on the day I was noted to be at a hospital in South Australia.

So I contacted the xray clinic who gave me a note of attendance i was there on that day/ date ….but it took Medicare 6 months to remove the “ surgery “ off my records , and the doctor in question sent me a apology

Some other person with a very similar name (not same age or birthdate as myself ) was on my medicare records
 
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gruntlabor said:
My thought is that I would not care to be diagnosed as mentally ill, which is what depression is.
Plus, there could be legal repercussions.
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Very insensitive comment. I was diagnosed with depression almost 20 years ago and went through a series of prescription and CBT treatments. I got better. One of my bosses knew I had depression at the time and gave me time to deal with it. She said "I know you will be better than ever when you come back." She was right. I eventually retired as a VP within my company so it wasn't a deterrent to my job performance. It also wasn't considered "mental illness" and I don't see it as the Scarlet Letter you apparently think it is.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
I would straight up ask why she lied to you. If you asked her to take it off your chart and she said she did, then she lied to you. I think you should talk it over with her and not skirt around the topic.
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But did she lie ?

if she took it off his list of current or active conditions and put it in past history /inactive/previous conditions or 'past concerns'.- surely that is all you would expect her to do

She isnt going to obliterate something from his records that is on historical record he once had - and he did say it is something he once had and was on medication for.
 

Kadee said:
Here in Australia if you have a certain medical condition thats added to your health record at your GP ,
it’s noted on your drivers licence and you have to have a medical each and every year before the transport dept will renew your drivers license
Click to expand...

that actually varies between states since each state runs its own motor registration.
 
Kaila said:
I agree that the privacy issue is a downside to current practices of medical records.

Yet what I would have found most upsetting is that the Dr was dishonest about it.
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Was the doctor dishonest or did OP hear what he wanted to hear? The condition did exist, was diagnosed and treated. There is no magic wand to change the past.
 

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