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Not sure it's the right spot, but kinda relevant!
Has anyone applied to have their medical records released?
How did you do it?
Are you given all your birth records or just the most recent? Or all hospital records relating to the single person?
Im really curious to read my first and 4th baby in particular.
It will be through Monash/Southern Health if that makes any difference
Yes, I did.
Very long, very painful, involved writing to MPs when the hosp did not bother to release them. (I had an incompetent hospital.)
I do have a complete copy now, though.
Be aware that some hospitals destroy notes after a length of time too, so I'd start with calling the hospital. You also may have to pay for a copy, due to time and copying expenses.
Apparently if you ask your GP to get them, then you don't have to pay. :)
yep I just applied through my hospitals health information officer.,I got both my files for both my dds. full documents (pregnancy, labour and birth). cost me $35.
wish I'd thought to ask my OB or GP MadB!
my midwife requested them and i (we) received them at no cost.
Birthtalk have a blog describing the things to ask for when requesting your notes. i hope this link is ok
Retrieving your birth records after a traumatic birth : how to get them, what to do with them, and why it can be a healing step | The Truth About Traumatic Birth
if you google "monash foi" you can see the hospital procedure and costs for applying for your records through freedom of information (foi).
I tried my GP but they refused, saying that only I could request them. My GP also thought I was mad for asking for a pre-TTC health check. Darn it, Australia, why do you have GPs who will actually try to help?
I got mine and my DD's through applying directly to the hospital I had her at. They sent me a form and I paid a small fee and they rang me about a week later to come collect them. It was all done under 'Freedom of Information'. Goodluck
Awesome thanks for the infomation. I'm hoping to get my records for all the births. I'll start the process very soon now I know how to go about doing so :)
I just phoned the hospital and had to go and pay for it and then they were posted to me.
Can you get them for curiosity sake? Not for trauma
That's all I'm wanting mine for, except #4 birth as I want to see what went wrong and what was documented. #1 wasn't an easy birth so want to see what happened there too:
i got mine purely as a record for myself as well as my daughters should they ever decide to have kids! Both files have gone into their respective memory boxes along with all their birth tags and announcement cards etc. no birth trauma involved for me. which, of course, doesn't negate those who have gone through the very real event of birth trauma and require their files as part of the journey of healing for them.
:grouphug:
Yep. They are your records. You don't have to state why you want them.:
It is good to have an idea of what it is you want to have a look at, bc you may not get everything if you just request "birth notes", you may need to be more specific.
yep, as HotI said, you may need to specify which information you want. I requested my whole file which covered my prenatal care, the labour, birth and postpartum records. Both my files were big!
I went private so I wonder if if have to ask the ob as well as the hospital
both my pregnancies were private and i just applied directly to the hospital for my records. For my OB visits i requested my files directly from him :-):
Reading the application form from my hospital it says 'complete medical history' so would that include everything I've ever done at the hospital (including emergency admissions etc)?
And you can select which locations you want (I've dealt with 3 of their hospital branches)
not sure? I only had my babies there no other surgery etc so it was only my pregnancy, labour birth and postpartum records
the records don't belong to the Ob. Go through the hospital. There are guidelines under which some information can be withheld, if your ob needs to be consulted, the FOI officer will do it.:
jellybean, do you mean your file from the standard OB clinic visits? If yes, then I just put a request in writing to him and got them directly from my his office.
Yes, my independent midwife applied on my behalf from the private hospital where DD1 was born, five years after the fact. It was easy enough, with a hard copy sent to me.
How lovely! Tbh, I think hospitals should give the notes to the mother rather than archiving then destroying. If I had a good pregnancy and birth experience, I'd have loved to share the notes with Liebling. I will keep them for him now, so should he wish to discuss that sort of stuff then he has something to look at.:
I also kept mine for more macabre reasons tfb. With both my parents deceased (Mum gone before I was 12, Dad 2 weeks prior to DD1s birth), I have no information on my birth etc so should the unfortunate happen and either myself or DH are not around to be able to tell my DDs of my pregnancy with them and their births etc, at least they will have "hardcopy" information to refer to...