AIBU to ask for something to be removed from my medical records?

[DeepDarkSecrets]

I have name changed for this.

I have just had an email from a life insurance company - with whom I was going through the process of buying life insurance from. Because of an autoimmune disease that I have (IBD) I had to get the doctors to send them a copy of my medical records. So they had access to all of my medical records, not just the parts pertinent to my IBD.

The email I have had says that I have been refused life insurance because of something on my medical records. I couldn't think what this could possibly be so I rang the doctors to find out (as the underwriters wrote to tell my doctor I'd been refused). I've been refused because of a "drug overdose" when I was 16. I had no idea this was even on my medical records, otherwise I would have done something about it sooner. I don't know if I actually CAN have anything done about it.

Back story:

I grew up with an abusive step father. He abused me mentally, physically and sexually for the 9 years that he was married to my mother. Eventually my grandfather got involved because my mother was just turning a blind eye to it all. They got divorced when I was almost 16 years old. Almost immediately, my mother took up with another man and I was absolutely terrified it was all going to happen again. I waited until my sister (DD of abusive SF and my mum, who grew up in complete innocence) was at her dad's and my mother was at work and then I effectively staged an overdose. I emptied two or three bottles of pills into the outside bin and then left them lying on the worktop. I then phoned my friend and told her I've overdosed - I was a complete mess so she was easily persuaded that I had done so. She then got hold of my mother and I was rushed off to hospital to be force fed charcoal to get me to throw up. Once my mother (who had arrived to level a torrent of hate at me for being so selfish) had left the hospital, I told my friend and the nurses that I hadn't actually taken any pills at all, I was just trying to get my mother to see how traumatised I was by the new boyfriend. I figured that was the end of it but it's gone down on my medical records as an actual drug overdose.

Because of this, I now don't think I'm going to be able to get any life insurance at all. Is there any chance of me having this amended or deleted from my medical records, as it never actually happened, or are they going to refuse, thinking that I am lying about it not happening, just to get insurance? I know it wasn't a good thing to do anyway, a waste of resources etc but at the time, I was an emotional mess.

Is there anything I can do about this? I'm 37 years old and have never considered suicide but obviously the insurers think I'm a risk. I'm quite upset about this actually.

Sorry for thr long post but wanted to give all the facts!

I doubt very much this can be changed.... Everyone would do it if changing records was possible

it can not be removed from your medical records but you can add a note of explanation i would book appointment to see GP and get him to add note

nothing can be deleted unless not yours ie someone had accidently uploaded mrs jones blood test results instead of yours

It can't be removed, but you can add an explanatory note - as above, write one and take it into the GP.

There are insurance companies that will offer insurance which takes account of past history, you will just have to shop around more specialist insureres (and unfortunately will probably pay more for less cover).

I cannot get life insurance at all (brain injury in my 20s after being hit by car) so I rely on my death in service which is part of my pension through work - maybe look into pension plans and see if you can equivalent cover that way?

I have had several (genuine) suicide attempts in my history and I have life insurance (HSBC - not the cheapest but cost is OK as I took it out when quite young). I had to go into detail about my psychiatric history. So not all insurance companies will reject you on the basis of a past suicide attempt anyway.

I'm not sure how you would manage to get information removed from your records. You'd have to get it backed up by a medical professional who was involved at the time, and that would be hard to get hold of at this stage. Otherwise they could just say that you were denying it years later.

I have something on my medical records which doesn't relate to me and I can't even get that removed.

I've repeatedly asked and been assured it will get taken off but each time I go it's still there!

Q What's the point of life insurance?

A Lining insurance companies' pockets.

My DH and I wouldn't dream of it. We have / had savings that would probably be more readily accessible than an insurance payout. Any premiums you pay could go into a savings account instead.

My husband's funeral cost about £2500 not the £7000-£8000+ quoted by insurance companies. And he had about 200 people at his funeral.

I don't want life insurance to fund a funeral, it's to cover child care etc so that my husband could continue to work if I died. We have savings etc, and there is joint life cover to pay off the mortgage but child care costs are high and my husband would not be able to work if I died (due to hours worked outside of childcare hours, not just child care costs).
I'm peeved because if it weren't for my IBD then this wouldn't have come up, and as a PP said, they'd never pay out for suicide anyway so I'm not sure why I've been refused. It's also going to mean that I now have to answer 'yes' whenever I get asked if I've had insurance refused.
As I mentioned - if I'd known previously that it had gone on my records as an actual overdose, despite my telling the medical staff it wasn't whilst I was still in hospital, then I would have kicked off years ago, when buying life insurance was a long way off in the future.

I think the act of "feigning suicide" would go on your medical notes anyway OP. It's not a normal thing to do, and would raise eyebrows at the very least.

Sorry, TywysogesGymraeg, I don't think you're managing to be quite nasty enough to the OP. Could you try a little harder?

And I don't mean saying her record can't be changed.

I mean the nasty little snidery like "People who have actual illnesses (not pretend ones like you)" and "raise eyebrows".

No, actually, I don't think there are "raised eyebrows" at A&E when a young person being sexually abused tries to put a up a flag by any means they can.

OP, I'm so sorry for what you've been through. It's good to read you've survived with no real urge for suicide. I hope things are good for you now.

They'd never pay out for suicide anyway - Might they have refused you on the basis that if you took a large overdose (they have no reason to know otherwise) there's a possibility that you've damaged internal organs and may have a shortened life expectancy?

You can't have anything removed from your medical records in my experience. There's something in mine that should be in my mother's and it's been flagged up numerous times. It now says "Relates to X person, LaLyra's mother", but is still there.

I'm really surprised you have been refused on this actually and think you'll find if you try a few other insurance companies you will easily get cover, even if you have to pay a slightly higher premier. To the posters stating the op is 'not normal' or fabricating an illness' shame on you for this. From what she posted in the back story it sounds a very understandable way of trying to communicate just how desperate she was feeling at the time given what had been happening.

OP, very sorry you suffered what you did, and I don't think you did anything wrong in how you brought attention to your abuse.

I am sure that other companies will be able to help you with your life insurance.

I realise these things are of importance and need to be documented but it's very sad for people in situations like this that they are forever haunted by traumatic periods of their lives.

I'm not trying to be nasty. Why was my post deleted?

Your GP should not have sent your full medical records over, only the bits relevant to your life insurance application.

The Life insurance company would have sent you medical questions which you must answer honestly. If one of the Questions was 'have you ever made a suicide attempt' you must say yes otherwise your cover may be invalidated. However if they do not ask for information about suicide attempts/ self harm etc there is no need for you or your GP to declare this. When we made our life insurance application I recall that all the questions about self harm had a time limit e.g.. 'have you self harmed within the past ten years?' so no need to declare anything earlier.

I am very surprised that you have been refused cover on these grounds. I would write to your insurer for an explanation, and your GP to establish whether they only gave relevant info. Or for a quicker option, try another company and remind your GP surgery of their professional obligations to only release necessary sensitive info

Thanks all. I think I'll have a chat with my GP and see what he says. In the meantime I'll have a look at a few other life insurance companies.

It's not like my DH would be destitute - the mortgage would be paid off - but he would hate to have to give up work and not provide for his family to the best of his ability. My having life insurance in place would certainly help towards that if the worst were to happen.

I can't really rely on a pension because the one I had when I was working was a paltry amount and wouldn't be worth anything to my DH really.

Actually just checked doctor's guidance and apparently some insurance companies are asking for full records, but the British medical association advises that GP s should not release this.

I would try a different company.

Using medical information and insurance
The BMA’s joint guidance with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has been withdrawn and is under review. We are aware that some insurance companies are now requesting full medical records (via a Subject Access Request – SAR) rather than asking for a report from the applicants GP, as previously agreed with the ABI.

In our view, requesting the full medical records for any patient is excessive and potentially in breach of the third data protection principle under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) which states that personal data shall be "adequate, relevant and not excessive" in relation to the purpose for which it is processed.

You won't be able to have it removed but I think that you should ask your GP if anything can be done about this. It seems a bit ridiculous to not insure you because of an attempted suicide when you were a child over 20 years ago especially if there were mitigating circumstances and you have had not mental health problems since.

It won't be removed. It doesn't matter that you didn't really take the overdose.

It's been a long day and words are failing me a bit, but you may find that it's better to leave it as it is than to add to it. Suicide attempts as a teenager are par for the course. Faked suicide attempts are not, really, and opening the dialogue might not be a good thing.

I had a similar experience. I told SS that I had taken an overdose to get them to come and stop my mum from knife fighting with my sister. I hadn't, but I've taken this to court level and it can't be removed. I wish I'd left it as it was.

I think that was a question on the medical records form that the GP had to fill in for the insurers. So, according to my medical records, the answer is yes. But in reality the answer is no because I never actually did attempt to commit suicide. It was a staged overdose in an attempt to cry out to my heartless mother following the years of abuse I'd suffered at the hands of her previous husband. Didn't work anyway as she moved in with the new boyfriend whilst I was in the middle of my A levels

Just for the record, life insurance will normally pay out for death due to suicide, except during the first 12 months after you first took out the policy. The other exception would be if you'd lied about your mental health on the proposal form.