Posted by Emily Elizabeth on September 18, 2005, at 14:54:20
In reply to Re: WAIT--Please read this! » Emily Elizabeth, posted by Gabbix2 on September 18, 2005, at 0:46:50
> The question was, do you have a right to see your file. And my answer was yes you do. Not knowing what is in your file can be harmful too, especially when the patient not knowing what has been written about them (that which is not necessarily the truth, but the opinion of the P.Doc)
True
allows this information to be shared with other medical proffessionals, and may end up stigmatizing them
Sadly, true too
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> Of course I would want to go over it with someone but not necessarily the P.Doc who wrote it, because I'd want an objective opinion.I suggested pdoc b/c I was thinking if you read something that upset you, you could ask why s/he wrote that, what he meant, etc. A complication to the idea of an objective diagnosis by another professional is that the notes themselves will be biased by pdoc #1's interpretation. If you had a bizarre skin rash and the doc took labs, then another doc could give you a 2nd opinon based on your chart. Psychiatry is not black and white enough for this to work easily.
> I don't necessarily go along that the P.Doc's want to protect their patient,
Admitedly, I am biased b/c I have had 2 great pdocs and a great therapist. Certainly there are A LOT of bad t's and pdocs out there. No disagreement there. I also am biased b/c I am in a position where I personally have to write client records. I care very much about the people I work with and I would never intentionally write something cruel about them. I would, however, feel concerned if some of them read their charts. Seeing something written is somehow different.
I think often they want to avoid having to explain anything they may have been incorrectly assessed, and legitimately taken issue with by the patient.
> If you take the pdocs word as gospel, then I suppose that is not an issue. To me, it's just another viewpoint, and hardly authoritative.
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You are right, it is just one person's (professional) opinon and if you can keep that in perspective, it might not be as hard to read your file. But I'd venture a guess that you are an exception, rather than the norm. I know that I would have a very hard time looking at my file b/c anything "negative" would crush me. I'm not arguing that it never makes sense to see your file, but I am arguing that people should be very careful about doing so. And never do it unless it is for a clear reason. (I feel like the phrase "curiosity killed the cat" fits here :) Sounds like the poster is in a unique situation and will have to think about what she wants to do. I certainly could not say what is best for her.I just wanted to throw out some thoughts. in case others are struggling with a similar issue.
Best,
EE
poster:Emily Elizabeth
thread:555678
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050916/msgs/556435.html