mitigating circumstances

[funnyperson]

Does anyone have experience of what evidence/words are best when submitting mitigating circumstances for coursework?

DS got mugged and then I went into hospital very ill - 2 separate episodes but it understandably affected his work.

Should I just give him copies of my hospital discharge summaries which also have a lot of irrelevant personal (and private) stuff in or should I ask doctors to write a specific letter?
For the mugging is a police crime number sufficient? If not will a distressed email written to his tutor at the time suffice?

It depends on the university's procedures and can even vary by department, so your DS really needs to ask someone. For what it's worth, I've had to do this twice. When I was unable to hand essays in on time due to ill health, they asked to have a doctor's note for the file. When my uncle died 4 days before a very important deadline they just took my word for it. Sorry that's not more helpful! Sorry you've had a hard time of it all. There'll be procedure somewhere to fall back on, he just needs to find someone who knows what it is. If the department are no use, try student services/student support/whatever his university calls it.

you could photocopy the discharge summary but having blanked out some of the more personal parts. They can see the hospital details if they want to check, just write on personal information removed. If this was an extended illness you might want to spell it out. For the mugging I'd be inclined to include both - crime number is a must, the distressed e-mail shows how it affected him.