Not Applicable

I work in the health care field, and have access to people’s medical records as part of my job. I was working on a file and happened to see the last note under history:

“Patient is adopted, therefore no medical history is available”

It made me sad. I mean, the person in question was a minor, didn’t the agency or what have you send some kind of medical history to the adoptive parents? I really don’t know how that works. I know that AM got a copy of me and B’s medical history, and we were in a private domestic adoption. I have worked with this file before, and was surprised I never noticed that the patient was adopted, so I looked to see what was written on the intake sheet. The patient’s mom filled out most of it, correlating to the patient’s history to date. But when it came to her family history, there was a dark, big, careless slash mark through it.

It bothered me. It bothered me that instead of writing “adopted” over that section, that a big slash was there in its place. As in “not applicable” or “not important”. I know it’s quite possible that the information is unknown. But is it true that the adoptive parents in a closed adoption don’t learn how many bio sibs there are? Or the ages of the birthparents? Is there any ID info to give at all? I mean, granted that the mother didn’t put her own history as substitute for her child’s, but isn't there anything to share?

It made me think of the countless times AM had to fill out these forms for M. Is she unknown too? Is her family history one big slashmark? It shouldn’t be, B and I were always known, always findable if there were any questions. Yet, years ago there was an issue where my history would have been helpful to M, no one came to look for me. I’ve updated my medical history for AM, without being asked, but she’s never asked questions, or expressed gratitude for doing so. It makes me wonder that after surviving all those years closed, if AM feels that it’s information she doesn’t need. Like "not important" And it kinda pisses me off, how many adoptees would LOVE to have their medical info, and here’s M, with the opportunity to have both sides of her medicals, to not be a slashmark anymore, and I have the funny feeling she is.

This is why I’ll always keep an eye out for open records laws, why even though I have access through AM, I will still register when she turns 18, just in case something should happen, she can know where to find me, and get her information if she wants it on her own, without having a third party gatekeep it for her. I don’t want her to be a slashmark anymore.