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OTC Scans

02/18/2015, (Thursday) An optometrist confused my retinoschisis with Vitreous hemorrhage and sent me to my retina specialist. My retina specialist checked my eye and wrote the following on the medical records: 

"Retinoschisis appears a slight bit progressed since previous photos" (but on 02/18/2015 he did not take any photo, he only took OCT scans)
"suggestion possible combined RD/schisis"
"will re-eval Monday to see if changing at all"
"retinoschisis of QUESTIONABLE progression"

He never mentioned the word retinoschisis to me and only told me:

"You have a possible retinal detachment, I am not sure if you require surgery but I will schedule it anyway for next Tuesday and I will tell you Monday if you need surgery"

Below is a portion of the medical record on 02/18/2015. Notice he does not find any tear or retinal detachment.

Almost 2 years after the surgery failed, I requested the "previous photos" he used to determine the "slight bit progression of the retinoschisis and the doctors responded that he cannot provide digital copies, I sent a doctor's complaint to Tallahassee and they respond that doctors are not required to provide digital photos and this is a loop hole in HIPAA because they guarantee your medical records, but they do not guarantee your medical records in the form of digital photos and OCT scans.

So let's go back to my first visit on 12/21/2012. These are the printed PDF showing the fundus photos from 12/21/2012 

Below you will find the OCT scans taken 12/21/2012 during my first visit, so in the first visit the impression was fundus photos and oct scans. The doctor writes to the medical records the diagnosis as "Retinoschisis" but when I ask for my diagnosis he says: "it's hard to explain, you have these splits and these holes, sometimes something happens, sometimes nothing happens" .

12/21/2012 OD 1

12/21/2012 OS 2

He asks me to come back in 3 months but I return almost two years later on 05/15/2014. During that visit only OCTs were taken (no fundoscopic photos), and the medical records show "Retinoschisis stable".

see the two OCTs below

12/21/2012 OD 1

12/21/2012 OD 2

Then on 02/18/2015, I visited a new optometrist for a  routine visit and the optometrist confused my retinoschisis with "Vitreous hemorrhage"  and sent me to retina specialist with a note "Vitreous hemorrhage". 

The retina specialist checked my eye and wrote "Retinoschisis of questionable progression"

And invalidated the optometrist note when he wrote "no hemorrhages". Since the optometrist was wrong apparently she confused my retinoschisis with Vitreous hemorrhage. See below what the retina specialist wrote. 


See below the OCT scan from 02/18/2015  (he did not take any fundus photos) yet he wrote:

"Retinoschisis appears slight bit progressed since previous photo" and notices he wrote "patient denies changes in vision" confirming that I had never ever reported any floater, any flash or any curtain or any symptom at all.

Se below OCT scan from 02/18/2015

I came back on Monday 02/23/2015 one day prior to scheduled surgery and this time he does not take OCT scans and only takes fundus photos and he turns his back on me while saying "yeah, it's detaching".

Below is a slide show of the 12 fundus photos taken 02/23/2015

Question #1

On 02/18/2015 the doctor does not take fundus photos and only takes oct scans and he writes "retinoschisis appears slight bit progressed since previous photos". The only prior evidence is  OCT's but no fundus on 05/05/2014 and OCTs and fundus photos 02/12/2012. Is he comparing oct scans 02/18/2015 with OCT 05/05/2014 or is he comparing OCT 02/18/2015 with fundus 02/12/2012?. Either way, can another doctor confirm the "slight bit progressed since previous photos"?

Question #2

He also writes "will re-eval Monday to see if moving at all" and on Monday (4 days later) he takes fundus photos and says "yeah it's detaching". So did he compared  fundus  02/23/2015 to OCT 02/18/2015 to decide his "if moving at all"?, If yes, do the fundus on 02/23/2015 show the retinoschisis of "questionable progression" "slight bit progressed" moved more in just 4 days. Is this the first case of retinoschisis "moving at all" in just 4 days?

Question #3

If he is comparing fundus 02/18/2015 to fundus 02/12/2012 and the camera is "no longer available", is it really legal by HIPAA that  I don't have access to my digital evidence to protect myself from "medical malpractice"?

Question #4

Does HIPAA consider a printed no quality fundus photo in PDF format as protected medical record while the digital record that can be loaded in a camera is not protected medical records.
Does HIPAA consider that OCT scans are not protected medical records?

I had no floater, no flashes, no  curtain and no symptoms at all and my vision had improved and see below what happens according to N E Byer when you elect to treat asymptomatic retinoschisis:

That is exactly what happened to me 2 months after surgery on 04/10/2015.

almost 2 years after surgery I manage to send all the available digital evidence to a reputed retina specialist and see below his response:

All OCTS are all Ok and are macula only and don't show peripheral enough

The only one that does not look OK is the one taken 04/06/2015 (four days before disaster stroke)  in an emergency unscheduled visit because I noticed my eye was not right.  during that emergency visit the doctor just told me "it's ok". he did not write anything wrong in the medical records:

See below the oct scan taken on 4/6/2015 that does not look ok:

I want to end with the same thing the doctor told me when I complained to him why he never mentioned to me the word retinoschisis. he bullied me and said "I did, look at your records"

SAME ADVICE I GIVE YOU ALL :     LOOK AT YOUR RECORDS

Do you wanna help others in the same situation?