Patients face uphill battle correcting medical records mistakes

Amy Baxter | | Health Exec | Digital Transformation
Doctor reading

With medical error being a top cause of death in the United States, medical record mistakes can be a big deal. When one college student tried to fix an error in her record, she discovered doing so was an uphill battle, CNBC reported.

Morgan Gleason, who was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease, attempted to request her medical records after a visit so she could store a copy. During this process, she discovered her records indicated she had two children, despite never having been pregnant. Another record showed she a diagnosis of diabetes that “shouldn’t have been there.”

The mistakes were extreme, but other research shows as many as 70 percent of records contain errors.

Getting the discrepancies corrected also required paperwork and Gleason’s attempts to fix her records were met with disbelief.

See the full story below:

This patient's medical record said she'd given birth twice — in fact, she'd nev…

Amy Baxter
Amy Baxter

Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."

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