Adoptees from the Closed Records Era, how much medical info do you believe is really in those records?

I have read many times that adoptees are demanding their medical information and I am curious as to how much 'medical' information you believe is included in closed adoption records, especially those from the BSE. I surrendered in 1964 and there would be no medical info as I was healthy, my mom was young (38 yrs old and healthy) as were all of my younger siblings and most of my maternal extended family members were healthy as well (at least the ones I knew of). Illnesses and diseases would appear much later in life and of course, would not be included in those then 'closed records', those illnesses and diseases occurring many, many years (decades) after the surrender of my baby for adoption. The paternal side in my equation is intentionally left out as I have no knowledge of who my 'real' father is, then or now. I would share my medical history with my now adult daughter when we were reunited.
Additional Details
I would add this..does anyone have the right to give a family member's health history, without their knowledge and/or permission? Many times being that a family member only has 'info' based on family gossip/rumor. I have read where states want to make it mandatory for surrendering mothers to give all medical history to include other family member's as well. Does the surrendering mother have the right to do this and/or should this be legally demanded of her..decades after the surrender and the act of adoption?

PhilM

The adoptees I know working hardest on this aren't fighting for their medical information. They are fighting to open those records because they are OUR records. We have a right to know that information because it is OUR information. Open records isn't about medical information. (Open records is also not about reunion, as some believe.) It is about our right to our identities.

ETA: I didn't mean to sound like I was denying your claim. It is true that medical records are used by some adoptees in their arguments. But you explain one reason why that's not a good argument. It is a detriment to open records because it has led to counter-proposals for "medical registries" where natural parents leave information, but the adoptee never gets any identifying info. This proposal preserves anonymity (thus denying the adoptee their rights). Ironically, such proposals threaten natural parent privacy, as sharing medical information is protected by privacy rights, though the identity of parents is not protected information. You are right to point out that getting clear on the nature of the rights involved is crucial to making the strongest argument for open records possible.

Flying Monkey #073177

In the fight against sealed records obtaining medical information is only a very small part of it. While medical info is a crucial part of search and reunion the fight to open records is about our rights as human beings and members of society. No other group of people is discriminated against in this way, no other group is denied their own birth certificates and records.

Yes opening records does make search and reunion easier but it is NOT why we continue to seek open records. We seek open records to have information about our birth and that is exactly what we deserve. MY birth, MY birth certificate, MY life. This is the one area where adoptees should have the right to be utterly selfish. I was born that day and I have every right to see that reflected on my own documents.

SJM

In my case, none. The adoption agency read the non-identifying info to me years ago. The record did include a huge fight between my grandfather and my mother, but there was no medical information. My grandmother died of cervical cancer when I was 4, but of course, that was after my adoption, and although it can be hereditary, it wasn't in my file.

ETA: I agree that medical records isn't the route that will open sealed records, and it really shouldn't be about that anyway. It's about sealed records that shouldn't be sealed. It's about treating one group differently than another group, and it's about a basic right to the knowledge of one's identity. I don't know why non-adoptees aren't frightened knowing that adoptees are denied access to these records. It sets a frightening precedent for all of society. If one person lacks the right to access birth records, the whole of society lacks the right. If one person's identity can be changed without their consent, everyone's identity can be changed. It always has been a civil rights issue, and it's always been about more than just adoptees. It's about every citizen's right to identity.

Lori A

I agree and have said the same thing. I was so young and my parents were too at the time. There were no illnesses at that point in time. Unfortunately there were later on. My father was obese, diabetic, lost a leg, had opened heart surgery, and probably more that I can't remember. My mom is fair for her age. She has Pecos which i had never heard of, but other than that, its mostly old age stuff. I had not lost two uncles or a cousin to cancer at that time.

My dilemma is if they want us to update the records then we have to constantly be aware that there is someone out there who needs this information. I personally was told to go home and forget it ever happened. Not that I ever did forget but I think it would be impossible to forget and update at the same time. My daughter needed reunion to get her medical history. That's not to take away from her right to have her medical info, there just isn't much in it.

Linny G

Most adoptees use the old "I need my medical information" because it shuts down the people who start trying to lay the guilt trip on us for searching. I DID need my medical history, as I had 2 children with serious health issues when they were born, one was genetic. While that was the primary reason at the time I started my search, I had planned on searching from the moment I knew I was adopted- and I was too young to even remember WHEN my parents told me I was adopted.

I do feel we have the right to medical information even without their knowledge. Obviously, we do not need to know if a sibling has an std, but there are medical conditions that we need to know...and that medical info could help prevent an early death, and we can take proactive steps, such as early screenings, etc.

Today's HIPAA rules have made it even more difficult to get medical info.

My "medical history" I received from Catholic Charities was useless. It was 22 years old, and had nothing in it.

Adoptionissadnsick

Medical info is always evolving - what I learned when first meeting my family was tiny compared to the the information that 17 years of reunion provides.

anastasia beaverhausen-the real1

the real question is, how much of it is remotely accurate?

absolutely NONE of mine was.

epkinvegas

I was born in 1968, in a small town, in a small hospital and my mom was only 18 at the time. I was one of the first "private" adoptions in that area. The state wanted me to be taken from the family I was given to (stated in the court records) and put in the orphanage for "proper" placement.
I have all of the records from the state, with all indentifying information (names, address etc) blacked out. There is NO medical information.
I have been reunited with my birth family, and that is how I got the medial history.

Randy B

I've never tried to get my records although soon, in Ontario, I'll be able to if I ever want to but given the record keeping of the era (45 + years ago) I wouldn't be holding my breath for much info being in the records. Thats not to say it couldn't lead me to other people who may know something but I would suspect that the info would be kind of basic. I know on my (a) fathers side if you ask him he'll only be able to say that his mother had cataracts and his father had something wrong with his foot because of circulation problems. IF that info was relevant to me (ie: I was born to my father, not adopted by him) it certainly wouldn't make much difference to me one way or the other. But I guess it's info at least.

kitta

The amount of medical info included in sealed adoption records varies, but there usually isn't much info about anyone due to the fact that it just wasn't known, was unlikely to be accurate, and as you said, the conditions hadn't happened yet.

I also do not recall even being asked for medical history on my family. And, I wouldn't have known, since my family is intensely private about this. Some families just are, and mine is one of them.

Some people don't talk about medical issues, and medical opinions vary. Other people's medical records are not available to family members.

In recent years, several states have passed laws requiring surrendering parents to fill out extensive family medical history forms that are many pages long. These forms ask for information on all relatives and do not require permission of the persons whose history is being submitted. The forms ask for every type of condition/disease/bodily organ and include e

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