The Patient's Welfare and the Medical Record

It is not unusual that proper treatment may depend upon the alacrity with which information about what has transpired previously is marshalled. The availability of medical records in general leaves something to be desired. Resistance is met at almost every turn in deriving records of previous illnesses. Not that they are as precious as implied by most hospital administrations, if the inertia in the release of information is a criterion. Hospitals are not in the way of transmitting this kind of information easily or promptly. To complicate matters, interns and residents are prone to neglect to telephone private physicians about patients admitted to hospital or clinic. Here too we cope with inertia. The 9-to-5 spirit is abroad in the land, and it would be remarkable if it had not caught up with the medical team. There may be a certain reticence in transmitting information by telephone since anyone can ask