How to Notarise a Medical Record in Australia

To notarise a medical record, give the notary an original to sight: usually a signed report on the doctor's letterhead, or a bundle the hospital has signed off as copies of its records. A notary cannot certify a portal printout against a database never seen. The notary confirms the copy or signature, never the diagnosis.

Key takeaways

• Most medical records are electronic, so there is often no paper original. Plan around that before you book.
• The best route is usually a signed report from the treating doctor, focused on what the recipient needs.
• For Australian purposes, including most Home Affairs uses, a notary is rarely needed.
• Foreign visa medicals usually need the destination's own panel doctors. Your GP's records will not substitute.
• Bring only the pages the recipient needs. The notary sees every page certified and records the act.

Who asks for Australian medical records from overseas?

Medical records are asked for from abroad more often than people expect. The usual requesters are:

• a foreign insurer assessing a claim;
• a pension or disability authority;
• a doctor or hospital continuing treatment;
• a court or lawyer in a personal injury matter;
• an employer, or an adoption agency.

Each wants to know that the pages in front of it came from an Australian doctor or hospital and have not been altered. What satisfies them differs. A treating doctor overseas may be happy with a PDF emailed from your GP. A court or pension authority may want the formal chain: notary, then DFAT. Ask the recipient which it is before you do anything.

Why are medical records awkward to notarise?

A notary certifies a copy only after sighting the original. For a birth certificate that is simple. For medical records it usually is not. Most are held electronically by a practice or hospital, and what you receive is a printout or a PDF.

A notary cannot certify that a printout you bring matches a database the notary has never seen. At most the notary can certify it as a copy of the page you brought. Most recipients will not value that. See originals and copies.

What are the three workable routes?

1. A signed report or letter from the doctor. Ask the treating doctor for a report on letterhead, signed and dated, covering what the foreign recipient needs. That signed report is an original document. A notary can certify a copy of it, or the report itself can travel with the notarial work attached. This is usually the best route. The recipient often prefers a focused report to a stack of clinical notes.

2. The doctor signs before the notary. Where the recipient wants more than a certified copy, the doctor can sign a statement or declaration in front of a notary. The notary witnesses the signature and confirms the doctor's identity. This needs the doctor to attend, which not every doctor will do. It is the strongest form.

3. Records released and signed off by the provider. Some hospital records departments issue copies with a signed covering letter confirming they are copies of the records held. The notary can then certify a copy of that signed bundle. Ask the provider what it can supply.

Whichever route you take, the notary confirms the copy or the signature, not the medical content. No notary certifies a diagnosis, and the certificate says nothing about whether the report is correct.

Is a notary needed at all?

For use in Australia, rarely. For most Department of Home Affairs purposes, a copy certified by an authorised person is usually enough where copies are wanted. Visa health examinations for Australia follow Home Affairs' own process, with its own panel doctors.

Foreign visa medicals are similar in one respect. Many countries require examinations by their own designated panel doctors. A notarised copy of your GP's records will not substitute for that. Check the destination's instructions first.

A treating doctor abroad usually needs the clinical content, not a notarial chain. A letter from your GP sent directly to the new doctor may be all that is needed. Save the notary for recipients who ask for one.

How is it notarised?

1. Ask the recipient exactly which records it needs, and in what form.
2. Ask the doctor or provider for a signed report or a signed-off bundle covering only those.
3. Bring the original, your photo identification, ideally a passport, and the recipient's instructions.
4. The notary sights the original, certifies the copy, binds the certificate to it and records the act.
5. Send it to DFAT for an apostille or authentication, if the recipient asks.

If the recipient wants particular wording in the notarial certificate, bring it in writing. Our document notarisation page explains the notary's role.

What if the doctor has retired or the practice has closed?

Records do not disappear when a practice closes. They are usually transferred to another practice, a records custodian, or the health service that ran the clinic. Ask the practice's successor, or the relevant state or territory health department, who holds them now. The holder can then issue a signed copy or a signed covering letter. Any doctor now treating you can also write a report based on the records, which is an original the notary can work with.

What about privacy?

You will be showing the notary sensitive information. A notary keeps a record of every notarial act, and compares every page certified with its original. Notaries are bound by professional confidentiality. You can still limit what is exposed.

Ask the recipient exactly which records it needs and bring only those. A three-page report is also quicker and cheaper to certify than a thick file. If the recipient asks for "all records", ask whether a summary report from the doctor would do instead. Many will say yes. See what a notary's register records.

What if the records are about someone else?

If the records belong to a relative, especially one who has died, the provider decides whether to release them, and to whom. That is governed by privacy and health records law and the provider's own policy, not by a notary. Ask the provider what authority it needs. For a deceased person that is often the executor or next of kin, with supporting documents such as the death certificate and the will or grant.

The reverse case also comes up. An overseas hospital holds records and wants a signed authority from you, or from a family member in Australia, before releasing them. That authority is signed before a notary here, then apostilled or legalised as the hospital requires. Use the hospital's own form. See documents when someone dies overseas.

How many certified sets do you need?

Each recipient normally wants its own certified set. If an insurer and a pension authority both need the same report, have two sets certified at one appointment. That is cheaper than returning later, and the doctor's original can be sighted once. See getting multiple certified copies.

Does it then need an apostille or legalisation?

A notarised medical document going overseas often needs DFAT's certificate. Only DFAT issues apostilles in Australia. A notary cannot. A doctor's or private hospital's signature is generally not one DFAT can authenticate directly, which is why the notary's certificate is usually the link. Confirm with DFAT for your document.

• If the destination is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, DFAT issues an apostille. Check membership against the HCCH status table on the day.
• If it is not, DFAT authenticates the document. It is then legalised at that country's embassy or consulate in Australia.

An apostille confirms the notary's signature and seal. It does not confirm the medical content. See apostille and authentication.

Who translates medical terms?

Medical terminology is hard to translate well. A translator must render drug names, dosages and diagnoses exactly, and a small error can change a claim. The receiving authority decides whose translation it accepts, so ask before commissioning one. Some want their own sworn translators. Others accept a NAATI-certified translation made in Australia. See NAATI translation with a notary.

Which route suits which recipient?

Recipient	Usually wants	Notary?
Treating doctor abroad	A letter or records sent directly	Rarely
Foreign insurer	A signed report, sometimes notarised	If it asks
Foreign pension or disability authority	A certified report, often with DFAT	Usually
Foreign court	A doctor's statement or certified records	Usually, then DFAT
Foreign visa medical	That country's own panel doctor	No
Home Affairs	Its own health process, or an authorised person's copy	No

Can a Justice of the Peace do it?

For use in Australia, often yes, where the receiving body accepts a JP. For use overseas, no. A JP certification is not recognised abroad, and DFAT cannot apostille it.

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A retired teacher in Darwin claims a disability benefit from a scheme in the Netherlands. The scheme asks for a medical report certified for use abroad. Her GP writes a signed four-page report covering the conditions the scheme names. A notary certifies a copy of it after sighting the signed original, and DFAT apostilles the certificate. She sends nothing else from her file.

In short

Medical records rarely exist as paper originals, so arrange a signed report or a signed-off bundle first. Check whether the recipient needs a notary at all. Bring only the pages it needs. The notary confirms the copy or the signature, not the diagnosis, and DFAT adds its certificate if asked.

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Asked for medical records from overseas? Send us the recipient's request, and we will explain each step before you book.