Hospitals usually restrict access to patient records, allowing only the patient or, if the patient is deceased, the next of kin to obtain copies. And hospitals often keep their records for only a short period of time—as little as 10 years. But you may be able to obtain autopsy reports or admission records for genealogical purposes. If you have an ancestor's death certificate that shows an autopsy was performed, it's worth trying to get those records if you're interested in the gory details. It's doubtful, however, that the report will give you much genealogical information. The admission record, on the other hand, should give you at least the person's age and/or birth date.

A few 19th-century hospital records are available in hospital and historical archives, and microfilmed copies may be available through the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City. When you check the library catalog at www.familysearch.org, go to Place Search and type in the city, town or county of interest. You'll get a subject category for medical records if any exist for that locality; click the link for detailed entries. For example, under New Orleans, La., you'd find:

• Admission books, 1829-1899, Charity Hospital
• City Physician's Office records, 1888
• Hospital register and index, 1859-1899, Hotel Dieu Hospital
• Hospital register, 1818-1835, 1867-1870, Charity Hospital
• Hospitals' general register of patients, 1865, City Commissioner
• Infirmary records, 1855-1934, Touro Infirmary
• Insanity examinations, 1888, City Physician
• Records of patients, 1874-1879, City Smallpox Hospital

You could then borrow the microfilm of these records through your local Family History Center.

If you're researching female ancestors, the records of Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital may be of particular interest. These records covering 1896 to 1933 document births, abortions and miscarriages for thousands of women who lived in the area, primarily immigrant women. Information varies from year to year. Earlier records give the woman's married name, her street address, the number of living children she had delivered ("para"), the number born at term, her ethnicity (many records were for Russian Jews, some for Irish Catholics, Polish Catholics and American Protestants), the person or agency that referred her ("thro former patient" or "thro Hull House," for example), her condition ("urgent, threatened abortion in 3rd month"), the case number and her admission date. Later records provide the same vital stats. They also list how many living children the woman delivered and how many were born at term, when she was expected to deliver ("confinement"), whether her labors were normal and whom she was attended by (the physician and student). The most recent records give information commonly found on birth certificates, such as the wife's maiden name, the husband's name, both parents' birthplaces and the baby's weight and name. The records are grouped by year and aren't indexed. But if you have a female immigrant ancestor who lived in Chicago between 1896 and 1933 near Northwestern Hospital, it may be worth your time to do a page-by-page search.

Here is a typical entry from one of the more recent registers:

Mary Rudolph Salaterski
June 1, [1932]
1474 W. Huron 3rd floor
Polish Catholic
para iii 2 at term expects
confinement Aug. 29, 1932
labors [of previous delivery] normal:
2 (1 [birth by] midwife)
attended by Dr. Bradenman student Bruder 8-19-1932
Diagnosis: … male 9 [lbs.]
case or confinement #327
Mother's birthplace: Ill.
Age 25 Maiden name: Smolen
Father's birthplace: Poland Age 35
Baby's name: Rudolph Jr.

Who knows? That record might be the only surviving clue to Mary's maiden name, Smolen.