Accessing medical records

[mattgusmum]

Does anyone know if the 100 year rule for accessing patient's medical records can be circumvented? And is that 100 years after they have passed away?

My paternal grandmother was locked away in a mental institution when my father was very young (he's 100 now) and we have no idea what was wrong with her......back in those days it could have been something like post natal depression. She died there in the 1940's.....if I have to wait another 30 years I might not still be here myself.

[JBee]

Have you looked at the 1911 census to see if there's anything there in the last column that might help?

[margaretmarch]

Does anyone know if the 100 year rule for accessing patient's medical records can be circumvented? And is that 100 years after they have passed away?

My paternal grandmother was locked away in a mental institution when my father was very young (he's 100 now) and we have no idea what was wrong with her......back in those days it could have been something like post natal depression. She died there in the 1940's.....if I have to wait another 30 years I might not still be here myself.

I don't think anyone but the person whose records they are is able to access them. They are private to that person so the 100 year is not relevant. I expect also that by now the records will have been destroyed as they would only be kept for 50 years after death.

Margaret

[mattgusmum]

Further info: She was at Napsbury Mental hospital, St Albans and the hospital records are held at London Metropolitan Archives.

Also on website:
Conditions governing access:

These records are open to public inspection, although under section 5(4) of the 1958 Public Records Act administrative records are closed for 30 years and patient records for 100 years.

So I don't think they've been destroyed.

[SmallTownGirl]

For all I know, the 100 year rule MIGHT just be able to be circumvented for medical reasons (i.e. possible inherited condition), but absolutely NOT just for family history curiosity purposes.

Also, and this is just a personal opinion, I think that in some aspects of their lives, our ancestors are entitled to their privacy and medical records come under that heading for me.

[herky]

I have a relative's asylum medical records - but only up to the 100 year cut off point.
The cut off is 100 years from now and not 100 years from her death. She died in the asylum in 1919 but I only got her records up to 1907 (having ordered them in 2007).
In 2019 I will be able to find out more about her later life and death in the asylum, should I choose to do so.
However, some regions may have different rules. This was in Scotland.

I have to say that I would not like to read medical records for someone I know and am close to - the types of treatments in days gone by are quite hard to read about. Even with someone I never met I was filled with sadness reading about her life in a mental institution. I kept telling myself that it would be so different if she had mental health problems now - poor soul - she was locked away for nearly 30 years.

I agree - medical reasons for opening a file early is acceptable in some circumstances, but not for family history research.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Why not try a slightly different tack and try for her admission records? I have seen one or two of these, the pages are carefully blacked out to conceal anything about anyone other than the person you are asking about.
They can be quite informative - reason for admission, basic description of patient and so on. Also date/reason for release, which may include death.
have never actually tried to access anyone's medical records because I wasn't particularly interested to read about barbaric medical practices.

EDIT - Just realised this is to do with your other post and I am afraid to say that your GM may simply have been locked away because she had been immoral.

OC

[kylejustin]

i think the poster is looking for proof of their grandfather in the medical records, i don't have any experience with them, so can't say if there would be any given. unless the grandfather was married and got divorced-in that case the grandmother and her illegitimate child would be mentioned.

[margaretmarch]

Further info: She was at Napsbury Mental hospital, St Albans and the hospital records are held at London Metropolitan Archives.

Also on website:
Conditions governing access:

These records are open to public inspection, although under section 5(4) of the 1958 Public Records Act administrative records are closed for 30 years and patient records for 100 years.

So I don't think they've been destroyed.

Oh right! sorry to misinform - I thought we had a debate about this on another thread some time back and that was the ruling then.

Good luck with getting some information but as OC has said - if your grandmother had an illegitimate child she may have been put in the asylum purely because of that and not because she had a mental illness of any kind. That was a common practise in those days.

Margaret

[SmallTownGirl]

I think (!) this thread is about her paternal grandmother, whereas the other thread (no father named on birth certificate) is about her maternal grandfather. But I could have got confuddled in this heat. Not that I'm complaining about the heat.

[kylejustin]

Good luck with getting some information but as OC has said - if your grandmother had an illegitimate child she may have been put in the asylum purely because of that and not because she had a mental illness of any kind. That was a common practise in those days.

post natal depression would be another contender.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Both grandmothers in a mental institution would be unusual to say the least, surely? EDIT - sorry, yes, two different people, my apologies, I jumped to conclusions!

I think there is a confusion here between two different types of records.

My MEDICAL records are held by my GP/hospital etc and are in a brown folder with my name on it. There's nothing in there about anyone else. HOSPITAL records however, are records kept by hospitals of their day to day doings - admissions, general daily disciplines, departures, deaths etc and concern all the patients in the hospital. I feel you are more likely to be able to see the hospital log records than see someone's personal medical records (which may have been destroyed anyway, but it's worth a punt).

A death certificate might explain the reasons, or it might not.

OC

[mattgusmum]

I think (!) this thread is about her paternal grandmother, whereas the other thread (no father named on birth certificate) is about her maternal grandfather. But I could have got confuddled in this heat. Not that I'm complaining about the heat.

You are quite right...this thread about paternal grandmother, other thread about maternal grandfather.....who knew family history could be so interesting!!

[herky]

My relatives records from the asylum gave day to day accounts of her condition, mood, medications etc.
On first admission the records were daily, then weekly accounts, then after a few years became monthly, unless something unusual was going on.
They are full of detail - eg - mercury given for an eye condition, her attempts to escape, her bodily condition, eating habits, etc, etc.

To me they are the records that nursing or medical staff would compile on a patient. Interestingly, no entry has a signature or details about the writer of the notes.

Good luck - you never know what you may find but prepare to be upset.

[darannon]

I obtained my aunt's records from the LMA some years ago, and wasn't told of any 50 or 100 year rule that prevented this.

My aunt was in Leavesden Asylum for many years, until her death in 1953. They aren't medical records as such, but they certainly do contain details of medical treatment during her time there, and a description of the illness that led to her death.

As far as I could tell, the reason for her being placed in there was that she had grown up in a home for children with special needs (she is referred to as 'retarded' and 'constantly foolish', it also states that she could neither read, write, or count beyond 5). Once she was 21, and an adult, there doesn't seem to have been anywhere else for her to go.

The records make very sad reading, so be prepared for that if you do manage to obtain them
Darannon