Medical Record Destruction:
In general, entities in possession of medical records are required to maintain those records for a given period of time. In the United Kingdom, medical records are required for the lifetime of a patient and legally for as long as the time that complaint action can be brought. Generally in the UK any recorded information should be kept legally for 7 years, but for medical records additional time must be allowed for any child to reach the age of responsibility (20 years). Medical records are required many years after a patient’s death to investigate illnesses within a community (e.g. industrial or environmental disease or even of doctors committing murders, e.g. Harold Shipman).