Va Puts Wrong Info

[Berta]

http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfjan09/nf011409-6.htm

"Because the VA brass regularly refuses to speak with VA Watchdog dot Org, we turned over our information to the Associated Press.

Now, they have confirmed the story... and worse. It's not just that wrong info could have been put into records, wrong info was put into records. "

Full story at above link-

(Gee when will it all stop)

[purple]

The other danger of electronic records is that anyone working in the VA....anyone....has access to your medical and mental health records. I was talking to a person in finance awhile back about an unpaid bill to a civilian facility and this person was reading word-for-word out of my prime care notes!!!! He had no business doing that because what we were discussing had nothing to do with prime care!!!

I reported him, but of course, nothing happened. Then I find out that mental health notes are not password protected.....nope.....anyone can read those as well. When the VA used paper records, mental health notes were kept separate. I do know that my therapist keeps a paper record folder of me in her desk of notes she takes during our visit...she said she does this for all of her pts and that these are her "private" notes. Really????? Wonder what is in there.

With electronic records we've all kissed our privacy good-bye.

[yelloownumber5]

I would think this would not suprise anyone.

[free_spirit_etc]

Hey! When I got my husband's C-file, there were medical records of OTHER vets in his file! I sent the VA an IRIS and asked them what they wanted me to do with the other veteran's medical records. (And suggested that my husband's missing discharge physical might quite possibly be in another vet's file.)

They didn't respond to that.

Yep. No response what-so-ever to being informed - "Hey! You just sent other people's confidental information to me! What do you want me to do with this sensitive information?"

If anyone needs some medical records to support their claim, maybe they could use the extra ones the VA sent to me.

Doesn't seem to matter to them which vet's file they belong to.

Free

I wonder how many vets putting in for an increase have been or will be denied the increase due to information in their medical charts that has nothing whatsoever to do with them?

[free_spirit_etc]

Purple,

Those private notes can be VERY important!!! Especially in the day of electronic records.

We went to the base and asked for ALL of my husband's medical records. We were given a copy - but many of them were SO brief. They just click a few buttons on the computer - just in a few words - and that is your "medical record."

I said - OMG! You had SURGERY - and it only takes up four lines of typing! They have reduced your surgery to FOUR LINES!!! And then you wonder why they tell vets that nothing is documented in the record to support their claim.

So he went back to the base and politely asked "What is this (*(%*?"

THEN they said - Oh, your medical records do NOT include the DOCTOR'S NOTES - (I guess the doctors notes are for the doctors).

So he asked for a copy of his DOCTOR'S NOTES.

THAT is where we found important information that supported his claim. The doctor had written A LOT more information in HIS notes.

So always be sure to ask for copies of the DOCTOR'S NOTES as well as your medical records. Apparently they aren't always included.

Free

The other danger of electronic records is that anyone working in the VA....anyone....has access to your medical and mental health records. I was talking to a person in finance awhile back about an unpaid bill to a civilian facility and this person was reading word-for-word out of my prime care notes!!!! He had no business doing that because what we were discussing had nothing to do with prime care!!!

I reported him, but of course, nothing happened. Then I find out that mental health notes are not password protected.....nope.....anyone can read those as well. When the VA used paper records, mental health notes were kept separate. I do know that my therapist keeps a paper record folder of me in her desk of notes she takes during our visit...she said she does this for all of her pts and that these are her "private" notes. Really????? Wonder what is in there.

With electronic records we've all kissed our privacy good-bye.

[broncovet]

I do not think it is a computer "glitch" but rather a default value inserted into each Veterans medical record designed to make the Veteran look like a liar, and to easily deny his claim. I have seen statements on my medical records that go something like:

"Veteran has been screened for PTSD, and the results are negative".

This is a "default value" and similar statements are often inserted in each Veterans claim, by default..in other words, the Doc does not type it in, it goes in each time.

Later, when the doc types in Veterans statements about stress events, PTSD symptoms, and evidence, it looks like the Veteran is full of it because he is making conflicting statements.

This is just one more "gotcha" designed with the 3D's in mind: Delay, Deny, Discredit the Veteran.

[purple]

freespirit-

yes, i know how important those "private notes" are....if i were pursuing a claim, i'd be getting those notes. there are some notes i intend to get that are "private" but located at a different VAMC---Cincinatti. More out of interest than anything else. i saw a tdoc there for a short time and she told me that out of pt privacy she put very generic notes in the computer system because she knew anyone could read them....and she kept the "real notes" in a folder in her office.

broncovet-

never thought of it like that. more i think about it...more sense it makes considering the source. that the VA would be doing all of this on purpose and then claiming that they know nothing. playing the "stupid" card. wayyyy too easy for them. :) afterall, computers only do what the operator tells it to do.