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.”