How do you write request letter for re assessment of a patient?

Answer 1

Your question is a bit vague on a couple of issues. Are you writing the treating physician for the reassessment or another specialist in the same field of medicine? I'm a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and from the syntax of your question, I'm going to answer it on the assumption that you are writing the current treating doctor for a reassessment of the patient's presenting condition and course of treatment.

You have every right to request that the treating physician who diagnosed the patient either provide a reassessment or demonstrate clinically why he/she stands by their diagnosis. If you disagree with their clinical findings, you have the right to have a consulting physician evaluate the patient to made their diagnosis of patient's presenting condition and course of treatment. If the second physician's evaluation is significantly different from that of the attending physician's, then you have various options.

If you are more in agreement with the clinical diagnosis of the consulting physician, then you can have the patient's care transferred from that of the attending physician to the care of the consulting physician. [At this point it gets difficult to respond in any great detail, because I need to take into consideration if both doctors have privileges at the hospital the patient is in, and whether the consulting physician would take a case away from a medical colleague. Also, if it is a mental health ward, there are legal implications beyond just a request for a reassessment of the presenting condition and the DSM-IV, AXIS I, diagnosis. Even if you highly disagree with the diagnosis, the responsibility of the treating psychiatrist is to stabilize the patient usually with psychotropic medication and therapy during a 7 - 10 day stay. Once released you can have the patient reaccessed by the therapist/psychiatrist of your choosing and get a better understanding of the original DSM-IV diagnosis.].

Perhaps I should have stated from the onset that the patient is entitled to a second opinion regarding his/her condition. This would not require a letter, but a referral to another specialist to come and review his charts, X-rays, MRIs, blood labs, EEG, EKG, etc. to make a determination if the present course of treatment is warranted based on the primary diagnosis. If he disagrees, you have the right to a change of physicians, but bear in mind that might result in a transfer from one hospital to another, and could take time depending on availability of beds at the other hospital. As I said, the process is not an easy road and having a case worker assist you would be ideal.

I don't know if I completely answered your question; I feel as if I raised more questions for you than answers. One last caveat; all what I have said has been based on the assumption that you were the health proxy for the patient.