Mentally ill man refused access to late mother’s medical records

A LIMERICK man who suffers from mental illness has condemned the refusal of the Health Service Executive (HSE) Mid-West to give him access to the medical records of his late mother, who also suffered from mental illness and was a patient in St Joseph’s psychiatric hospital.

John Griffin, who worked as a carpenter before illness prevented him from holding down a job, said he needs to know about his mother’s illness to help him come to terms with manic depression which has necessitated him being hospitalised numerous times.

Mr Griffin, 56, said: “I want to get these records to try and get a better understanding of our family’s history of mental illness. My brother Terence who is 61 has been a patient in St Josephs for more than 30 years and I have been a patient there many times. I have been in the same ward as Terence.”

Mr Griffin, who lives in a city centre flat, said he wants to get his mother’s medical records and have them analysed by an outside psychiatrist to see if she received a proper level of treatment.

“People with mental illness have been treated like dirt in this country and I am demanding the HSE now give me access to my own mothers medical file while she was in psychiatric care,” he said.

Mr Griffin applied under the Freedom of Information Act for access to his mother’s medical records and this request was turned down in a letter dated June 15, 2006.

The HSE said they shall refuse to grant access to the record concerned if it would involve disclosure of personal information, including personal information about a deceased individual.

The HSE told Mr Griffin he can appeal the decision to the Freedom of Information Officer at the HSE Mid-West headquarters.