CLEVELAND — Dozens of people claim to have fallen victim to inaccurate information on their healthcare records, more specifically after visiting the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.
Deb Sweat told me she's been dealing on and off with misinformation on her MyChart since January 2023.
"Apparently, another person had gone to the main campus of University Hospitals and they made some kind of a clerical error and logged her in under my record," Sweat said.
Sweat told me she only found out because her insurance company called her to ask about post-surgery meals.
"I never had surgery," she said. "I was arguing with them and they finally checked back and said that was a mistake."
A couple of months later, an EKG that Sweat said she never received popped up on her records. That, too, was later removed about eight months after she caught the error.
UH wrote in a letter to Sweat, "Your changes were approved and completed."
But then, again, Sweat found more inaccurate information on her medical records. This time, a UH physician noted in July 2024 that she'd previously had a heart attack and stroke.
"I freaked out on that because I never had either one," Sweat said. "We gotta get this corrected. If anything happens where I do end up in the hospital, this is gonna look bad for my treatment because they're gonna think I had a heart attack and a stroke and they're gonna take my care accordingly and that scares me."
Sweat said she filed a complaint with UH and also notified her primary care physician.
"[University Hospitals] never called the PCP and when I talked to the PCP, he said 'No, I never got a call from them,'" Sweat said.
Ultimately, Sweat received a letter from UH in October 2024 saying the healthcare system has reviewed her record and deemed it accurate and complete.
"I kept calling [University Hospitals], talking to them, and everyone was like, 'Well, we can't do anything more about it,'" Sweat said. "And then, I decided, well, I gotta go somewhere else. I can't afford an attorney, so my next thought was to try you. I had seen your story on the two pediatricians that were fired, and I said, you know, maybe I'll see if she can help me on this. She's already on top of this UH thing. I was appreciative of that because you're the first person that ever actually took an interest in what I was saying."
I immediately emailed UH Vice President of Communications, Michael Tobin, for answers.
Due to HIPAA, UH is unable to share the specifics of Sweat's medical records, but confirmed the issue was being resolved.
"I'm going to eventually request my medical records. When I do that, I don't expect to see a red flag. I don't expect to see this was corrected. I expect to see a clean record like nothing was ever put on there because nothing should have been put on there in the first place, so that's where I stand on it," Sweat said.
Sweat told me both the stroke and heart attack were removed from her UH MyChart record within 48 hours of us reaching out to the healthcare system.
"I'm feeling great. You guys have helped me a lot. I didn't know where to turn anymore, and the fact that you responded so quickly and jumped on it, I thought this 'girl's got it,'" Sweat said.
There is still one more issue on Sweat's record, though, she said.
Sweat doesn't have an upper denture, but her record claims she does.
She said UH is aware of the misinformation and is reportedly working on it.
I asked UH if the inaccurate information on Sweat's record was a human or system error, but the healthcare system wouldn't answer.
I also wanted to know whether Sweat's case was an anomaly or if she was one of many.
"I'm not aware of any similar complaints," Tobin said.
However, when we asked our followers on social media Monday morning, dozens flooded the comment section and my email, claiming to have fought or are fighting a similar issue as Sweat at either UH or the Cleveland Clinic.
"Inaccurate medication list and family history, missing after-visit summaries, radiology reports with errors," one person said on social media, referencing UH and the Cleveland Clinic.
Another person wrote, "(Cleveland Clinic) has me responsible for someone else & they won't remove it!"
"UH has added so many diagnoses (inaccurate) on my MyChart and I've asked to have them removed and they still are on there. Frustrating to have to repeatedly tell them it is inaccurate whenever I go to different specialists," someone else said on our Facebook page.
Sweat encourages everyone to check their medical records moving forward.
"Not everything in there is gonna be correct," she said.
Tobin said if a UH patient finds an inaccuracy in their medical records to let their primary care physician know.
I asked that the Cleveland Clinic provide any patient complaints of record misinformation by Tuesday afternoon. A spokesperson is looking into it.
We'll continue to follow through.
