Recently, I have had to reach out to various physician practices, hospitals, and other medical providers for my clients. The first question each asks when I call is what is the patients date of birth?. This is by far the most important piece of information needed to find the patient in the broad healthcare system.
It made me wonder, why the Date of Birth is so important? Well, one reason is that we all have a date of birth! I am always amazed after I give the date of birth they come back and ask me the patients name and say yes, I got it. What can I help you with? If you don’t have the right date of birth – you will not get any information.
But is my date of birth unique to me? I can’t be the only one with the date of birth is 2/25/54 – but when you put it with my name, it is MY DAY!
I just thought I would share this ‘revelation’ with you to make sure that you know how important your date of birth is and to remind you to celebrate your life everyday. As they say, you only die once, so make sure you live every day!
Here is a Beatles song that will stay in your head all day….click here to listen (and dance)
Have a good week!
My husband had 2 aunts and one uncle from the same parents, all with birth dates of 12/25, different years. We had a feeling their immigrant parents, who did not understand English, just chose that date as it was a popular date. Why that date we never understood as we are Jewish!!
When my grandparents and great-grandparents immigrated, the folks that “checked them in” “helped” pick names that were easier to spell. A lot. One grandmother always said the date they put down for her own birthday was wrong and we could never confirm that.
I had to chuckle when I read your post Anne, because there are 6 people with the name Bonnie Brown in St. Petersburg, FL where I live and I’m always asked, “Which one are YOU?” I’ve only met 2 Bonnie’s in my life, one of which was in high school and she also married a man with the last name Brown, and so we now have the same name. Plus, when my son was born I took him to the pediatrician and they called out “Brown” and another mom and I both stood up. The gal laughed and said, “Zachary” and we both walked forward. I asked the other woman her son’s middle name. She said Tyler. Mine was Taylor. Wow! Fortunately, they had different birthdays, but only by a few weeks. I imagine our paths will cross again. Kind of crazy, I know! So I guess you’re right … what are the odds of both a name and date of birth being the same?
Dear Anne–your story bought back a memory of when my son was in high school. We were meeting with a counselor to discuss options for the future. When the issue of grades came up I was disappointed to hear that my son was not performing up to par- the news was not consistent with his report cards. Suddenly something clicked in my head and I asked the counselor “What is the date of birth you have on record?”
Well!! It was not my son’s date of birth. It turned out that there were four other young men with same name as my son.
After much embarrassment and many apologies the records were corrected.
You are right Anne–this vital information is essential to ensuring not only the right name but the right history and most important the right treatment.
Thanks for sharing Paul McCartney’s Happy Birthday song -Yes DOB is one of the primary ways to be identified. When speaking to a call center they usually have preloaded questions to ask – If possible when I am initially filling out the “security questions” for online verification – I try to give them an additional verifier-so I do not have to answer “what is your last 4 of SSN?”
Anne, I know one young man who was arrested in my city because when he was involved in an accident (not his fault) his full name and birth date matched that of a young man from Kansas who had a warrant out for his arrest.
A friend of mine had not only the same name and birthday but also the same vehicle as a young woman who had several outstanding traffic violations. Fortunately, this young woman’s father was a sheriff and the color of the car was different. She was so happy to get married and change her surname!
Happy Not-Your-Birthday!