Medical Records

[Al329]

Hi,

This might be a weird question, but does anyone know of a service that can take my old STR and translate all the gibberish handwriting into plain text?

Army doctors handwriting is totally illegible!

 

Thanks,

Al

[pacmanx1]

I may be wrong, but I think you are looking for a Certified Medical Records Translator. Not sure of where to go or how much it would cost but you could look them up online and go from there.

[ShrekTheTank]

Yes pacmanx1 is correct.  You need someone who is certified in reading doctors notes and then turning them into something everyone can read and will hold up to scrutiny. 

The only issue I see with this and maybe it is not an issue is the VA could say this person is not the doctor and they are interpreting things their own way.  Then the VA will do what the VA always does and sends you for a C&P or for an IMO.  They will ask for specific things to be checked and this way they have a clear picture.  

I just think it could be a was to spend the time and money on this when the VA could just reject it and get their own.

[Berta]

I helped with  a claim like that-(my former local vet rep asked me to help the vet-( but was messing up my claim at the same time)*** the veteran had been denied many times and even went to the BVA twice with lawyers.

***I fixed that with a complaint to the OGC and to his boss, the Govenour.

No one, not his rep nor even his lawyers ever read his SMRS.

It took me 3 weeks to decifer them ( Army vet 1960s all handwritten gibberish) and he was claiming his diabetes started in service.

Long story- he won his claim.

I prepared a lay medical nexus statement for him as to his SMRS and told him to ask his private endocrinologist to support his nexus with copies of his SMRs that I had highighted. The doctor did the IMO for free, checking the SMR and my statement and highighted parts , and he won.After almost a decade .

I had to magnify many records, and had to look up many medical acronyms, and go over the SMRs many times-there were not too many pages but they were all difficult to read.

His claim had been denied many times and yet he never even tried to read his SMRs himself.

I believe a needle in a haystack can be found. There were plenty in his SMRS, but by then I had a background in diabetes because of my pending SMII claim,.It just takes plenty of time and work.

 

The best "certified med rec translater" is often the veteran themselves

or an IMO/IME doctor.

I magnified the records on my PC, and also used a mirror to see if that would help decifer them.

I became familiar with the way a  a few doctors  wrote entries, and that helped a lot.

But let me know if you do find a medical transcriber who could do this for you.

Even with the work I did for this veteran, he still needed the IMO/IME. I am not a doctor.

 

 

 

 

[Berta]

Shrekthetank and I were posting at the same time=

He is right- there are medical transcribers around but the one I know typed the medical notes from a taped analysis from  doctor's and never had to decifer written SMRs.

[pacmanx1]

Not really sure of what you are looking for but instead of trying to find a Certified Medical Records Translator look for a Medical Specialist that does IMOs. Doctors can read and understand other doctors chicken scratch and or shorthand and they have transcribers on their team. Have them to review your medical records and give their medical opinion and a medical rationale of if the conditions you are claiming are military related or secondary to an already service- connected condition.  

[Buck52]

7 hours ago, Al329 said:

Hi,

This might be a weird question, but does anyone know of a service that can take my old STR and translate all the gibberish handwriting into plain text?

Army doctors handwriting is totally illegible!

 

Thanks,

Al

Al, No Not a weird question ,but a good questions which all this information received here  from hadit members could very well help other Veterans as well as you too.

I have about 6 or 7 pages in my C-File (not in order) That has the VA Date stamped seal clear as can be but the rest of the pages are blank or gibberish  hen scratch, commas, periods question marks, lines   ect,,ec,,,,  no  medical translator could deifier.

What caused this problem is when they  recopied our C-file And made the transfer over to the DIDIGIAL CD DISK  THE MACHINE THEY USED TO DO THIS NEVER COPIED ALL THE PAGES...IF IT WAS IN LIGHT PENCIL  OR LIGHTLY PRINTED OUT.

  SO WHEN WE SEND  IN ANYTHING TO THE VA MAKE SURE YOU USE DARK PENCIL OR TYPE WRITTEN OUT OR  PRINTED IN  CLEAR AND DARK INK.

(JMO)

Edited December 15, 2020 by Buck52