Who should be included?
You should ensure that any new physician who treats you or your family receives a copy of the Family Medical History Form. The information should include:
- First Degree Relatives
Parents, Siblings, and your children
- Second Degree Relatives
These extend to Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts, Nephews and Nieces, and Grandchildren
- Third Degree Relatives
Great-Grandparents, Great-Grandchildren, and the children of your first cousin.
Other Questions
You may be asked for ethnicity. You should not take that wrongly, they are simply enquiring as to your ethnicity as certain groups are more prone to a particular ethnic group.
You will also be asked to provide the current age of all first, second, and third-degree relatives. Alternatively, you may be asked to provide the age of death for deceased members of your family.
The Form
Once the form is completed, make some copies and give them to all family members for their own use. There is no point in everyone repeating this epic fact-gathering exercise. These forms can be of great benefit for a physician who is gathering information before a couple before or after pregnancy occurs.
The American Medical Association stresses the importance of completing these forms, which may seem to take forever to complete, but which could save your life or the life of a loved one. When you consider that you are only completing this once and several members of your family can have copies, the actual time is minimal when compared to the benefits.
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