MANY readers were shocked by my recent article about Peter Drier, who received a surprise bill of $117,000 from an out-of-network assistant surgeon who helped out during his back operation. But almost as surprising was how difficult it was during my reporting for Mr. Drier to extract his own records from the hospital. He wanted…
New York Times
New York Times: What the Therapist Thinks About You
David Baldwin wasn’t sure how he had come across the other day in group therapy at the hospital, near the co-op apartment where he lives with his rescue cat, Zoey. He struggles with bipolar disorder, severe anxiety and depression. Like so many patients, he secretly wondered what his therapist thought of him. But unlike those…
The New York Times: Letting Patients Read the Doctor’s Notes
The patient, a wiry businessman in his 50s, needed a copy of his medical records to bring to a specialist for a second opinion. He assumed that getting the copies would be straightforward; the records were, after all, his. But after multiple trips to his doctor’s office and the hospital and several days of missed…
The New York Times: Project Puts Records in the Patients’ Hands
by Roni Caryn Rabin In an old “Seinfeld” episode, Elaine goes to see a dermatologist about a rash, and is left sitting on the table in the exam room, alone with her medical chart. She opens the folder and almost immediately makes a sour face. “ ‘Difficult’?” she says, reading aloud. Let’s face it: We’ve all…
