Brett's Story

Untitled Part 12

The story about what happened to my son's medical records over a year's time,is almost unbelievable. Arletta McGill was the daytime unit clerk on the wing of my son's stay. Patty Winbush took over during the night. She had been there for many years, and it was her job to keep all the patients files on that wing of the hospital in order. Making sure every drs order was properly placed in every file and followed through; every medication order was passed on to the proper nurse; etc. When she found that Brett's records were gone, she came into his room and asked us to return the records to her. When we told her we didn't have them, she became upset like you wouldn't believe. We could hear her on the phone, yelling at the medical records department in the hospital, demanding that "her records" be returned to her immediately !  Marilyn Procter the director of medical records, told her that her department didn't have them. She made numerous other calls to others, trying to find them, with no luck.  After the law suit was filed, over a year later, I called her, and she remembered everything about the records disappearing. She and Lee had become very good friends over the months Brett was in the hospital, and right before a deposition with her, she saw Lee, and with tears in her eyes, gave Lee a big hug. In the deposition, she swore that the records had never left her nursing station. We could tell, just by looking at her, that she was trying very hard not to break down. We also had a deposition with Marilyn Procter (or "or"), the director of medical records at Children's, and she claimed the same thing. I had also contacted resident Kim Boggs, the Resident in charge when Brett was discharged. He was working in Nashville Tn. at that time, and recalled everything about the records not being available when Brett was discharged. He sounded nervous that I had located him, and sounded  like he was hyperventilating when I spoke to him.  He even told me that he had been flown back to Ohio, to meet with hospital officials and attorneys, after Brett was discharged, to discuss what they feared to be a future law suit. When Brett was discharged, and sent to D.T. Watson rehab facility in Pa., a copy of his records were supposed to be sent with him. Before the decision was made to send him there, it was planed that he would be sent to the Heinzerling Memorial Foundation in Grove city Ohio, a suburb of Columbus that took care of severely retarded children and adults (the adults were in a separate building). A social worker at the hospital told us that a copy of his records had already been sent there, and all we had to do was to go there and pick them up, before leaving for Pa. We went, and was told that all they had received from the hospital, was a cover letter that listed everything that was supposed to be included .When we got to D. T. Watson, where Brett stayed for six months, he was sent to  Pittsburgh Children's Hospital for a weeks evaluation. They had no records, and one of the residents there told us he would call Children's in Columbus to get a copy. I told him that they probably wouldn't send the records, and he replied "sure they will, it's SOP". I told him that I would bet him that they wouldn't, and he just laughed. A few hours later, he came to us and said, "you were right, they claimed they had already sent them". After the weeks evaluation, we asked if we could see any records that the Columbus hospital might have sent. We were told, "no, they are the property of Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, and you aren't allowed to see them". When Brett arrived at D. T. Watson, after his evaluation, we asked about any records they might have received. The lady in charge, Dr. Kitt, showed us about ten pages, and said, "is this supposed to be some kind of joke?". Incredible, just incredible, is the only thing I can say. Just around a month ago, in January of 2017, I requested a copy of Brett's records again. I didn't receive even close to what I had asked for, but I did get a copy of Dr Bachman's  forged neurological consultation. This was the first time, out of three, that it wasn't stamped with the " Confidential information, re disclosure prohibited by (some kind of state law)" stamp. Much more on  Bachman later.

3/2017:  I received several thousands of what the hospital claims to be every page  of Brett's records. Still missing, is the nursing notes of Diane Anderson, who took care of Brett during the late evening of 3/5/83 (first night), to the early morning of 3/6/83, where it showed that she dumped out the glass of Coke that my wife had brought in. Also missing, is the toxicology report, dated 3/5/83, from Toxicology Inc., where they claimed to have tested the material in the Coke bottle that I had brought in 4 days later. Guess the hospital has destroyed both those reports.