<p>Am wondering if anyone here has ever tried to go back and locate medical records from 50+ years ago?</p>
<p>I am specifically looking for health information on my mom who died 7 1/2 years ago. I know some of her health history, but am missing some chunks as I found out this last fall. I have been having some health issues for which some of the treatments might be contraindicated depending on things that may or may not have happened to my mom when I was a toddler. </p>
<p>I have some somewhat reliable historians but three family members were told one thing, and two good friends of the family were told another. I have a pretty good idea which hospital she had surgery and was treated at and want to start there. I’m sure my brother, who was my mom’s power of attorney and executor would be more than willing to sign whatever form is necessary to have my mom’s records released to me.</p>
<p>I also understand whatever records are left are likely on microfiche, but that’s OK; I’m pretty anxious to get whatever information I can.</p>
<p>terriwit- it is worth a try.
About 10 yrs ago I was able to get some medical records for two surgery hospital visits from when I was 5 yrs old. I wrote to the hospital requesting the records. To my surprise they had them and sent them to me. This was at a large teaching hospital.
In another instance I did not have as much luck. Last year I was having some health issues that are related to my issues when I was a child. 10 yrs ago I had some radiology studies done. I tried to find them this past year and both the Dr I had seen at the time and the radiology group had no record.</p>
<p>the way it was explained to me is that doctor’s offices are only required to keep them for seven years, but hospitals might be held to a different standard. Someone suggested I also might try pathology records, which might be stored in a different area than regular hospital records.</p>
<p>Find someone who has worked in the records area for decades and do everything you can to befriend them. Those file room ladies from days gone past were amazing and knew where everything was located.</p>
Not necessarily. In PA, for kids, records have to be kept much longer than 7 years, so the systems in place do permit longer life spans, and it’s not uncommon that these are available, especially if it’s in the same system. </p>
<p>When institutions change systems or go from manual to electronic, etc. there’s more of a likelihood that old records aren’t converted, but as you said, they could well be in a basement somewhere on microfiche.</p>
<p>You MAY also check with the insurer that she had at the time, IF you know who it was. In our case, we’ve all had the same insurer all our lives, so that would be easy to ID. If you know what hospital and/or MD, that would also be a starting point. Some insurers & docs & hospitals keep things significantly longer than the required minimum. Good luck! I know my docs are “thinning my files,” as they were getting too thick, but surgeries may be kept in files longer.</p>
<p>I got my grandmother’s redacted medical records from 1915 from Massachusetts state archives. I was disappointed by the fact that Mass insisted on redacting them, but it did. Of course, I was only asking for genealogical reasons; you may have better luck if you have medical reasons.</p>