This Holiday Season Give Something to Help Keep You Living
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 25, 2013) - In the following
blog, MMRGlobal's (OTCQB: MMRF) CEO Robert H. "Bob" Lorsch tells
the story of a patient who averted surgery with the help of a
Personal Health Record (PHR). In this case, he was the patient and
the PHR is MyMedicalRecords.com, a secure online resource for
storing a family's medical records and other important documents in
one safe and convenient location with the ability to access the
information -- including potentially life-saving health data --
24/7 using the Internet. Lorsch, known for communicating the value
of maintaining a Personal Health Record to others, continues to be
living proof. From his position as founder and CEO of
MMRGlobal, his story is a testimonial to the power -- and
self-empowerment -- of a MyMedicalRecords.com PHR to improve care,
reduce healthcare costs and help save lives. This blog and others
can also be viewed at http://blog.mmrglobal.com:
Home from the Hospital
Last Thursday, I was admitted to the hospital with pain in my
mid-section and an elevated white count. I had been experiencing
mild symptoms of pain in the stomach for more than a week, and when
the pain started keeping me up three nights in a row I called my
Internist. He referred me to a gastro specialist whom I saw on
Monday, November 18th. The doctor gave me a complete workup which
included taking a rush "STAT" blood draw. After the
appointment I was sent home with two antibiotics and instructions
to wait for his call. At 9:00 that same evening the doctor called
and told me I had a significantly elevated white count and to
immediately go for an emergency CT Scan.
I told the specialist that would not be possible as I was
traveling to Chicago early the next morning for scheduled meetings
where attorneys from around the country were gathering and we were
not meeting at an imaging center. I explained that this was an
important and time-sensitive meeting and only something like
removing my appendix would keep me away. So unless he could
tell me I was having an appendicitis attack, I was going to
Chicago.
As it turned out, the only reason I am able to write this blog
and appear on Fox News all weekend and again in a special segment
later today is because my MyMedicalRecords.com Personal Health
Record account kept me out of an operating room.
So since my diagnosis was not definitively an appendicitis
attack... despite the pain (and fever) I was at LAX at 4:30 AM and
on a 5:40 flight to Chicago with the Company's patent attorney (who
did not have a copy of my advance directives).
We arrived at the meeting in Chicago, which by that time was the
only thing I could feel good about. Then, I drove from the
suburb of Deerfield to the Chicago Loop for an MMRGlobal investor
dinner, returning to the Airport Hilton in time for a few hours of
sleep and the morning flight that would get me back to the office
for more than half a day of work on Wednesday.
However, that is not exactly what the universe had in store for
me. Instead, the ongoing fever and pain made me realize I needed
the CT Scan before going to the office. So I scheduled the
procedure from the in-flight Internet. After the three-hour imaging
procedure I went home to wait for the results.
At about 6:00 PM that night I received a call from the
specialist telling me to get myself to the hospital Emergency Room
with specific instructions to be admitted, adding to both my wife
Kira and I that it was a life or death situation. The specialist
also contacted a surgeon to be my admitting physician and I was in
a hospital bed the next morning, which was now Thursday. I had
been told that I would be out in 2 days and I had an infection that
that would simply be treated with IV antibiotics.
I quickly learned that now everything was an emergency. My CT
Scan was done outside the hospital so when I checked into the
hospital no one had a copy, only a verbal report from the
specialist. However, when a surgical team came to my room to
prep me that night, they told me I was not headed to an IV Line but
to surgery. Then I started asking more questions. Based on what I
learned, I told them that surgery was anything but acceptable. I
made it very clear that I did not want surgery and requested a
hospital radiologist render a second opinion on my CT Scan.
The problem was it was not at the hospital. Because I know how
important it is to ask for a disc of the procedure whenever a
patient leaves a radiologist, I had one with me. But I did not have
the report. I 911'd the specialist, who emailed the report to me.
The hospital had no way to receive email from a patient, especially
at what was now 7:00 at night. However, every Nurse's Station can
receive a fax.
So using my personal MyMedicalRecords.com account, I uploaded
the email to my inbox, moved the report to my radiology file and
faxed it directly from my Personal Health Record to the Nurse's
Station.
Records and disc in hand, the surgical team went to a
radiologist in the hospital and they all read the film
together. Forty-five minutes later, the team canceled putting
me under the knife and started the IV. Clearly, without a
patient-controlled copy of my PHR, I would not have able to be on
Fox & Friends Saturday morning discussing the latest on Dr.
Afridi and back in my office today. Instead, I would have been in
recovery, having had an unnecessary surgery.
Apparently, one set of radiologists from outside the hospital
had given one opinion and the radiologist in the hospital
another. Fortunately, the hospital won.
Surgery canceled, and 4 bags of IV antibiotics later, it was off
to Fox & Friends.
The best news is of course that I didn't need surgery, and that
the influx of antibiotics seems to have resolved the problem. I
walked out of the hospital feeling great and, as a matter of fact,
several people have said I've never looked better.
Had I not had a Personal Health Record I would not be writing
this blog pain-free. This Thanksgiving, Kira and I have a lot to be
thankful for in that MyMedicalRecords kept me from having an
unnecessary operation.
If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to use this
holiday season to open a Personal Health Record account at
MyMedicalRecords.com and collect all your family's important
information when you are gathered together before it's too
late.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Robert H. "Bob" Lorsch, CEO, MMRGlobal 4401 Wilshire Blvd.,
2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90010, Tel. 310-476-7002
www.mymedicalrecords.com Follow MMR on Twitter at MMRGlobal
About MMRGlobal MMRGlobal, Inc., through its wholly-owned
operating subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., provides secure and
easy-to-use online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic
safe deposit box storage solutions, serving consumers, healthcare
professionals, employers, insurance companies, financial
institutions, retail pharmacies, and professional organizations and
affinity groups. The MyMedicalRecords PHR enables individuals and
families to access their medical records and other important
documents, such as birth certificates, passports, insurance
policies and wills, anytime from anywhere using the Internet.
MyMedicalRecords is built on proprietary, patented technologies to
allow documents, images and voicemail messages to be transmitted
and stored in the system using a variety of methods, including fax,
phone, or file upload without relying on any specific electronic
medical record platform to populate a user's account. The Company's
professional offering, MMRPro, is designed to give physicians'
offices an easy and cost-effective solution to digitizing
paper-based medical records and sharing them with patients through
an integrated patient portal. Through its merger with Favrille,
Inc. in January 2009, the Company acquired intellectual property
biotech assets that include anti-CD20 antibodies and data and
samples from its FavId™/Specifid™ vaccine clinical trials for the
treatment of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To learn more about
MMRGlobal, Inc. visit www.mmrglobal.com. View demos and video
tutorials of the Company's products and services at
www.mmrtheater.com.
MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Selsman Public Communications Co.
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