The medical group lost my medical chart. What should I do?

My primary physician refers me to another medical office for dermatology, orthopedics, and now OBGYN. I was recently seen by OBGYN for pelvic pain & he needs to do laparoscopy surgery to see what鈥檚 wrong. During that visit he told me the office hadn鈥檛 given him my chart but he鈥檒l review it later.

As I was walking out the door to the surgery. The doctor鈥檚 office called & had to cancel because my chart was still missing. All my medical history for my skin & knee problems are gone.

The OBGYN doctor is really mad and wants me to submit a formal complaint. I believe the chart went missing after I saw the knee doctor in March. I saw her write in it then.

I鈥檓 mad because I took time off from work and will now have to start all over w/ my ongoing health issues.

How should I handle this?

Sadly, too often medical charts get lost when being filed or transferred between offices. Usually the chart is finally discovered. Start keeping a written record. Send a registered letter to the last doctor you know had your chart and tell him you need the chart now for your next doctor, and that if you don't get it, you will have to take legal action. Keep a copy of the letter and signed receipt. You may have to find a lawyer, maybe through a free Legal Aid group. In the future, make sure you get a copy of each important document or report or page in your record, even if you have to pay the office a copying charge. Good luck. Don't be ignored.

I work in a hospital and in my 20yrs, I have heard hundreds of times about missing medical records. In the military, there's a "missing records" form patients could fill out. Complain to the head of the records dept, they'll take it serious and start a "manhunt". If you can tell them the last place you've seen it (which you said you could), let them know. That would be a good place to start. Lots of doctors have hiding places for records. 99% of the time they show up! Sometimes they'll have to go through each record on the shelf to look for a misfile.
Stay on them to locate the record! Once it's located, request a copy be made and keep them for yourself. If you're military, the records clearly state on the record jacket that they're government property so you can't keep them.