A Heart Shocker

Dear XXXX:

The results of your recent echocardiogram reveal the following:

You have mild mitral valve regurgitation. This means there is some backwards flow (reverse flow) of blood through your mitral valve.

You have trivial aortic valve regurgitation. This means there is some backwards flow (reverse flow) of blood through your aortic valve.

You have a mild cardiomyopathy. This means your heart muscle is weakened and not pumping blood as efficiently as normal.

You have pulmonary hypertension. This means the blood pressure on the right of your heart is elevated.

You have left ventricular hypertrophy. This is a thickening of the wall of your left ventricle (heart muscle).

You have tricupid regurgitation. This means your tricupid valve does not completely close.

This condition is stable and not causing any problems at this time. Rest assured that we will closely follow your condition and look for any changes.

Please continue to take your present medications and follow your provider’s instructions.

Thank you for letting XXXXX Cardiology provide for your health care.

Sincerely, XXXX, M.D.

This is a letter to my 81 year old dad from a cardiologist. It is a perfect example of why patients complain about physicians.

Let me explain this to you, Dr. XXXX. If your patient has a history of an aortic valve replacement, a sudden cardiac arrest, and a pacemaker insertion, don’t you think it would be better to take a few minutes to call and give him the results, and then follow-up with the letter? It’s a no-brainer.