Patients left high and dry without their medical records

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - It’s important to have your medical records in case there is ever a question about your health, but WSMV4 has learned even though the records belong to you, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get your hands on them.

When Judy Austin’s doctor of 10 years, Gary Cole, suddenly died, she was sad, but relieved to hear the People’s Clinic of Clarksville planned to re-open under a different name.

“They said if you wanted your records, you could, and I thought, ‘Well, if I’m gonna stay there,’ and that’s what they said, ‘if you plan to stay, you don’t need your records, we’ve got them,” Austin said.

However, that clinic never reopened.

Now Austin needs her records. Scrolling through the People’s Clinic Facebook page, it was clear, that Austin was not alone.

“They were all saying, ‘Where do we get our records? How do we get our records,” Austin said.

When patients showed up to try and ask in person, the door was locked and no one was there.

“I don’t know who to contact,” Austin said.

We were hoping this would be a story of WSMV4 saving the day. We called the state health department, but this was a private clinic, so no luck there. We used the doctor’s obituary to track down his family and staff members.

A former nurse practitioner told us to call a medical records company called E-MDS. They said they didn’t own the records.

A former office manager told us to call Medicopy who told us the company no longer has a contract with Peoples Clinic.

As we reached out to those people, WSMV4 learned this happens more than you might think.

The American Medical Association (A.M.A) said a lot of patients and families encounter “significant barriers to obtaining medical records.”

You could be proactive and ask for your records now before there’s a problem.

If it’s too late the A.M.A. suggests contacting insurance companies for claims that might give you insight into your medical history and contacting imaging centers and labs that you’ve visited to request individual imaging and bloodwork results.

But the A.M.A. admits playing your own medical records detective is quote “an immense undertaking” and “a burden.”

Just ask Austin who’s now battling numerous, serious medical conditions for which she has no record.

“I just feel let down. They left, understood, they didn’t want to start another one, but what about us? We’re still here,” said Austin.

Doctor Cole’s family released a statement saying:

“We would like the patients of the People’s Clinic to know that we are sad it had to close and we, the family, tried everything we could do to keep it running. Dr. Cole was a victim of suicide and unfortunately, due to insurance policies that were put in place, it made the financial burden immense and the practice went into foreclosure. This also resulted in the loss of the electronic medical system.”

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