Alot of Hospitals will charge (per page) IF the records are for you BUT if you request them to be sent to another doctor they are free. So talk to one of your docs, or heck even a family friend that is a doc and ask if you can have the records sent to him/her and they will pass them on to you. I have all of Justin's sent to a family friend, he reads them because I ask him to, he is a heart surgeron and has been answerring my questions then mails them to me. with all involved w/ Justin's heart, I feel safer with a few doctors really understanding it, incase one retires or gets hit by a bus.... . It can be a little more PIA gettting them sent now since you have to fill out Hippa forms, but if you don't live close to where you had surgery they can fax or mail you the forms to fill out. HTH
oh the good reason to have copies is if you happen to end up in the hospital unexpectly, they are good to have while they are trying to get a hold of them