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Genetically inherited diseases, sexually transmitted diseases passed during
childbirth or even mental illness are three example of issues in one person
that may have serious privacy implications for another person well beyond
the death of the first.

Food for thought anyway.

Best wishes

Carl Temple
(views my own, not my employers)

PS my views were developed when working as the Archivist for the health and
welfare portfolios in the State of Victoria, Australia. Amongst our
collection were records of children and juveniles in distress and/or
involved in crime, intellectually disabled and psychiatrically ill.

-----Original Message-----
From: Nye, Valerie [mailto:vnye@RAIN.STATE.NM.US]
Sent: Friday, 4 May 2001 5:15 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Ethics in Archives


Would some of you out there be willing to share with me your repositories'
position on medical records, records dealing with crimes in which the
victim's statements are included (specifically from a Governor's
collection), and records created by lawyers?

According to the right to privacy, people who have died do not have a right
to privacy.  Ethically, however, I am wondering how different archives deal
with these types of sensitive records.  Is it enough to seal collections
until the people are dead?  Or should confidential records always be kept
confidential?  Should we be concerned about the families of the people
documented in these records?  Is it worthwhile to have hundreds feet of
records that are confidential taking up valuable space?

Any ideas, thoughts or *policies* would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Val

Valerie Nye
Senior Archivist
1205 Camino Carlos Rey
Santa Fe, NM  87505
vnye@rain.state.nm.us
Phone:  505-476-7946
Fax:  505-476-7909

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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>