Barriers to Adoptees getting Medical History and Proper Medical Treatment
To help focus attention on the importance of family history, the Surgeon General, in cooperation with other agencies with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has launched a national public health campaign, called the Surgeon General's Family History Initiative, to encourage all American families to learn more about their family health history. -- Surgeon General This is a topic that has been renewed for me as I was recently interviewed by a news reporter. She genuinely wanted to understand how she could engage her readers in understanding how adoptees could get their medical history and records. Today I want to discuss the barriers to achieving this. 1. Lack of Oral History The best way to determine what diseases and conditions run in your family is to speak to your family members. That seems obvious to most people; however, adopted people in the U.S. may not have that luxury. Why you ask? All states in the U.S. amend and seal (wit...