How to Find Your Personal Medical History

Every time you visit a doctor, whether it's for a checkup or a condition, she makes an entry in the medical file she keeps for you, detailing the reason for your visit, her assessment of your general health and any medicine she prescribes you. Over time, these entries add up, making up your entire medical history. Locating and getting a copy of your medical history is possible, although it can require inquiries at a few places.

Instructions

• 1

  Visit or call your internist or general practitioner's office and request a copy of your medical file. The file should include all the visits you've paid to her office, and likely will include copies of statements to doctors she's referred you to. Ask the representative for specifics on which types of records the office requests and files as they come from other doctors.

• 2

  Request copies of records from doctors you've seen outside of normal check-ups, particularly those to whom your doctor didn't refer you or to whom you didn't provide the contact information of your doctor. An example of this might be if you suffered an ankle sprain while traveling in Florida and had to visit a hospital for immediate care.

• 3

  Assemble your medical history and skim through it to see that it's accurate. Although medical employees are generally meticulous in their record keeping, a possibility exists that someone else's doctor visit was filed under your name or that you have a record that simply doesn't reflect a condition from which you ever suffered. Contact the doctor's office if you feel any segment of your personal medical history is erroneous.