Are you allowed to get medical records of your grandparents if they have been dead for 5 years?

Question

I am reposting this in the geneology section, hoping people in this section might know

I heard they destroy the records after they have been dead 15 years so if mine died 5 years ago can I get them?

Answer 1

The only person whose records you are entitled to see is your own.  There might be some red tape or a form to fill in, but legally they can't refuse to show you what they hold on you.

In certain circumstances people can get hold of their parents records if they believe that they have a genetic disease that has been passed down through the generations, but its not like they leave you in alone in a room with a photocopier.  Usually only your doctor gets access to the records and he will tell you what you want to know, not actually show you the files themselves.  And even then, it's not easy or done without a very good life-threatening reason - and that doesn't mean holding your doctor hostage with a knife until he agrees to let you look at his files (!!)

As you have stated, many files are or were routinely destroyed.  I don't know what the legal retention period is while a person is alive or after they are dead, but the survival rates are not likely to be good.

Early 19th century workhouse or asylum records are often far from complete, and the same applies to many early 20thC records as well.  Even if they did survive, there is usually a 100year disclosure rule as there is with the census.  Some individual people get special permission to consult such things early - one example is 'Jack the Ripper' researchers and authors who were allowed access to certain records a few years before they became openly available in 1988 (ie. 100 years after the murders).  So pretty much trying to get anything after 1908 (100years ago) is not going to be an easy task.  I keep telling the same story (because it is true), that I was once in all seriousness offered an appointment in January 2063 to look at the personal school records of my grandma from the 1930s - on the offchance I am even still alive some fifty-five years hence, whose to say I will even be able to remember my own name, let alone my grandmas!!  Trying to get hold of any of her medical records now would no doubt involve the same kind of timescales - just plain ridiculous.  Assuming they actually survived (there is only a finite amount of storage space so many things will get destroyed at some point), you would be lucky to get an appointment this side of 2050.  That's the Data Protection Act for you I'm afraid.

Answer 2

Yes you can they will still have them but I'm not sure what the 'red tape' is for acquiring them try this address below for more help.

www.confidentiality.scot.nhs.uk/access...

Answer 3

i work in the medical field, if someone wants a copy of any thing  they must come in , show their  picture  I D  to get it.   so i would say NO.  wife son daughter will not be given any personal info.   government  laws prohibit that from happening.

Answer 4

****What is the reason you want them?  If it is to find out why they died, their death certificate would have the reason.  Is it a genetic disorder that may be inherited?  Perhaps another family relative could help answer questions.