Re: Medic Alert (was stolen medications/Medic Alert

[Guest guest]

I wear a Medic Alert necklace. I have several friends who are EMTs and they

advised me to wear my Medic Alert emblem outside of my clothes. That increases

the chance that someone will see it, follow it's instructions and have the

medical control officer call Medic Alert.

According to the EMTs, it's true that the ER staff will first use what

information the hospital has on you as a basis of your treatment. This can be a

problem especially if your medical records are stale. It's even more of a

problem when you have life threatening medication intolerance that are not in

your medical records because you hadn't been to that hospital since the problem

was discovered.

This is a real problem here in Boston, because there are six world or national

class medical centers within ten miles of where I live (plus many world class

specialty hospitals), and I've been a patient at four of them.

To increase my chances that I will be taken to my medical 'home' hospital (Mass

Gen), my PCP suggested that I have another Medic Alert emblem engraved, with the

words 'MGH patient' (in the medical community, Mass Gen is also known by it's

initials) and negotiate with Medic Alert the words to use to describe my

problem, such as " many life threatening medication intolerances " . This does not

guarantee that, in a situation where I can't speak for myself, that the right

things will happen, but it increases my odds.

I agree with Gwen in that there needs to be someone you trust who knows what's

wrong with you, where your medical records are (the critical ones are in a three

ring notebook), and that you have given that person a copy of your health care

proxy or living will and that that person is named in these documents. It's

especially important to do this if you're not close to or don't trust your

closest relatives.