<p>[When</a> her test was lost, critical care delayed - Health - Health care - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45496689/ns/health-health_care/]When”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45496689/ns/health-health_care/)</p>
<p>I know doctor’s should always follow up, but the reality is they don’t always do that. It’s okay to say, “when should I contact you if I don’t hear from you in regard to my results?” Don’t ever take the “no news is good news” reply or approach.</p>
<p>My doctor and her staff make sure they always say, “If you don’t hear from us, please contact us by email or phone. No news is NOT good news … it means your test results got lost or overlooked.” It’s one of the reasons I go to her practice - she loves communication.</p>
<p>The doctors where I work send a lot of tissue samples off for biopsy. They always tell the patient to call them if they haven’t heard back from them within X days.</p>
<p>Good advice in the OP, though. No one will look after your interests better than you will, so you have to take responsibility for some of this stuff. You wouldn’t want to be the one person who fell through the cracks.</p>
<p>Physician here. Always remember it is your body and you have the responsibilty to keep tabs on things. In recent times our local hospital now hands the patient a mammogram report with normal, may be abnormal before she even leaves. Using computers instead of the old xray film that needed more time for the radiologist to access helps. When you have labs of any kind done know what they are and be sure you get the results- those with chronic problems needing routine labs be sure they do them when blood is drawn. I have always kept a copy of lab and other test results myself. You don’t need to understand them but if you have your copy it could be easier to pull them out instead of having someone try to find them. I also keep a small, cheap 2 year calendar that I write down when I have doctor visits, labs et al (also used for nonmedical stuff- car oil change dates et al)- a lot easier when trying to schedule the annual physical than remembering the date or searching files.</p>