[bookofjoe]

I recall reading perhaps 30 years ago that in China people (from birth) possessed their original medical records and brought them to the doctor's office or hospital. I have no idea if this was/is true. I remember thinking how wonderful this would be, as opposed to the U.S. system (I'm a retired neurosurgical anesthesiologist with 38 years of experience — UCLA/USC/UVA). As a rule, I administered anesthesia to people whose records were often lacking very important information from outside physicians/other hospitals that was simply unobtainable in the time frame available to get it: i.e., patients were admitted the evening before craniotomy/brain tumor resection etc. scheduled for the next day, and their previous records — other than those from the hospital I/they were in — might as well have not existed.