Natural Health

If you’ve been to the doctor for tests and he or she never calls with results, you might be tempted to assume that means everything is fine.

It turns out that could be a dangerous assumption.

According to a report today in Parade Magazine, a study of 5400 patient records revealed that for one out of every 14 tests, doctors either failed to notify patients of abnormal test results, or had no record of having done so.

Some practices had a perfect record – which means some were much worse. Testers found a rate of 26% in some practices, and it didn’t matter whether they used “old fashioned” record-keeping or electronic medical records systems.

The bottom line – don’t leave it up to the doctor to call you. When the test is done, ask when you should expect to hear the results. If  you don’t get them in that time frame, call.

If you’re referred to a website to read them for yourself, do so. But then, unless the findings are crystal clear, call back and demand to speak with the doctor. You deserve to know what the tests revealed, and unless you have a degree in medicine, you should’t be expected to interpret their jargon.