MDs - give me strength !?!

WARNING rant mode turned on full.

What on earth is the matter with MDs?? I phoned up my Doctor's surgery this afternoon to see if my autism diagnosis from when I was a child was still on my file. Apparently in the UK if you haven't received treatment for a mental complaint for 25 years the initial autism diagnosis is removed from your active medical records so you don't have to declare it to employers - which I haven't.

However now I need to show my Uni some evidence I phoned up my Dr and asked if it was possible to pull something from the dormant side of my file as evidence so I don't have to go througha re-diagnosis and have it back on my medical records.

I explained this to her and she said - "sounds to me as if you want your cake and eat it"

What does that mean for goodness sake - I'm doing nothing wrong and just trying to keep from having to tick the "disability" box on job application forms.

I could really do with some feedback here because I thought it was a sensible thing to do.

Rant mode off.

They mean you want everything your own way. You want the joy of owning the cake, but also the joy of eating it. Obviously you can only own the cake or eat it, you can't do both....so the term is applied to people who want both sides of a decision.

In your case you want it off your records where your employer is concerned but on your records where uni is concerned. You either have or don't have it on your records but you seem to want "both" as and when it suits.

UK-SW wrote:...but you seem to want "both" as and when it suits.

If autism is still on my inactive medical file I can pay £50 and have the whole lot photocopied for me. I can then take the relevant pieces and show them to my lecturer - thereby by passing re-diagnosis. It is up to him whether they accept it or not.

I am unemployed and trying to feed my family on one recession cut income, pay the mortgage and keep the Government in expenses. I have no income of my own. I am not apologizing for trying to do the best I can with what little I have. I hope that's clear.

*Follow up selfish rant, but related*

Hmm, want to know why I haven't been to the doctor's for the past five years about my condition? Because there's sod all they can do about it. I've been round and round the roundabout of treatments and nothing makes a difference. So, it might look like on paper that I'm doing fine, in fact, all I am doing is hiding the issues.

I suggest that you contact the National Autistic Society here in the UK, as they might have come across this before. With medical records, they can be destroyed after a certain number of years i think, but usually they aren't. Instead, they are sent away to a hired company who stores records, documents, etc from many companies. Your doctor's surgery probably stores records in this same way but just dont want the hassle of having to retrieve them (as it might cost them a bit).

If autism is still on my inactive medical file I can pay £50 and have the whole lot photocopied for me.

What's an 'inactive' medical file?

Kit wrote:

UK-SW wrote:...but you seem to want "both" as and when it suits.

If autism is still on my inactive medical file I can pay £50 and have the whole lot photocopied for me.

Have a look into the Data Protection Act. Not sure to what extent, or if at all, medical records are covered, but if they are you can get a copy for £10 by putting in what is called a subject access request.

Thank you UK-SW and I will look into that. I'm really sorry I snapped at you earlier.

I just have to share...

After all this my Dr. came back to me today and announced very sheepishly that they don't have any medical records for me prior to 1989, which effectively means that all my childhood info - including autism diagnosis, is missing.

You'd think that at least one of the Drs I've seen over the last 20 years would have noticed the discrepancy between what I look like (35) and their record's age (15)

Kit wrote:I just have to share...

After all this my Dr. came back to me today and announced very sheepishly that they don't have any medical records for me prior to 1989, which effectively means that all my childhood info - including autism diagnosis, is missing.

You'd think that at least one of the Drs I've seen over the last 20 years would have noticed the discrepancy between what I look like (35) and their record's age (15)

Surely some stuff has to stay on a permanant file until you die? For instance, I have an egg allergy. This was discovered when I was three years old. Now, if they deleted that 20 years later, someone might give me a flu vaccination - that could possibly kill me.

Just wondering...?

That makes sense though because - as i said - medical records can be destroyed (or more usually filed away permanently in remote locations) after a certain number of years.