@Dr_Dredd I have docs fax me results. I don’t see the real difference between that and emailing. But, are we just talking about lab results or any discussion of my condition at all on email? I work in psych hospital I understand HIPPA, I don’t remember a specific mention about emailing, but maybe I need to reread it? In my position it doesn’t come up for me to worry about. I do fax documents all of the time with pt info. If I mistakenly type the wrong fax number it could be going almost anywhere. I get lab results from other doctors in the regular mail, no one seems to worry about that?? My mailbox is on a main road without a lock on it. And, I do personally have a doctor willing to attach lab results to emails, is he breaking a specific HIPPA requirement. Honestly after working in health care I just think most medical professional don’t like using computers. Obviously, you are an exception, since you are on the web with us here, but generally nurses and other medical professionals seem not to savvy on computer programs and attaching documents.
I have twice in my life had very serious things happen that I feel pretty sure could have been avoided if a doctor had spoken to me directly than through a nurse. One time while receiving a new IV med at home that I was having a very bad reaction to, I eventually wound up in the emergency room after enduring the entire week long regimen and feeling so much like I might die (literally die, I have never felt like I was dying like that before or since. My husband was out of town and my mother-in-law slept with me in bed one night I was so sick on that drug, so afraid). It all could have been avoided, A week after getting a huge does of steroids and some other meds to treat my bad reaction, could finally function, and finally able to collect myself I called the doctor AGAIN and INSISTED I speak to the doctor, I was a total bitch to that nurse this time, which she responded to better than me being weepy and afraid, and the doctor (I was calm with her and told her what happened) said she was unaware I was experiencing such a severe reaction to the IV she had prescribed. Unaware because she did not speak to ME in my opinion and relied on her nurse. I had called three times during the administration of the new medication upset and fairly desperate, the nurse had done nothing for me. I guess you could turn it around and blame me for continuing to take the meds or say I should have gone to the office. But, I was younger then, listening to the nurse, and had been very sick and in chronic pain for years. I was hoping this medication would make me better. I was not suicidal, but desperate enough to think if it kills me I will have died trying, I cannot not try, I can’t be sick the rest of my life if there is hope this med works, and if I stopped in the middle I would have always wondered. I needed guidance from a doctor.
In contrast the next time I tried a medication by IV, my new doctor before I left his office told me, “call me every day and check in, let me know how you are doing.” Sometimes he answered, sometimes his nurse. When I was not feeling well he always called me back or came to the phone.
I am always SHOCKED when a doctor seems really interested in following up or my onging care. That is a sad statement I think.
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