How to Notarise a Medical Record in Australia

Medical records are asked for from abroad more often than people expect: by 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.

Medical records are awkward documents to notarise, for a reason worth understanding before you book anything.

The problem: what is the original?

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 they have never seen.

There are three practical ways around this.

1. A signed report or letter from the doctor. Ask the treating doctor for a report on letterhead, signed and dated, summarising 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, and 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, who witnesses the signature and confirms the doctor's identity. This requires the doctor to attend, which not every doctor will do, but it is the strongest form.

3. Records released and signed off by the provider. Some hospitals' records departments will 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.

Check whether a notary is needed at all

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

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.

How to have it notarised

Bring:

• the original signed report, the provider's signed bundle, or the doctor in person;
• your photo identification, ideally a passport; and
• the recipient's instructions, including any wording it wants in the notarial certificate.

The notary checks identity, sights the original, prepares the certificate, binds it to the documents and records the act.

Privacy. You will be showing the notary sensitive information, and a notary keeps a record of every act. Notaries are bound by professional confidentiality, but 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 cheaper to certify than a two-hundred-page file.

Records 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.

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.

Getting a certified copy

Each recipient normally wants its own original certified set. If an insurer and a pension authority both need the same report, have two sets certified at one appointment.

Getting it apostilled or legalised

A notarised medical document going overseas often needs DFAT authentication. Only DFAT issues apostilles in Australia; a notary cannot.

A doctor's or 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 and it is then legalised at that country's embassy or consulate in Australia.

Medical terminology is hard to translate well. The receiving authority decides whose translation it accepts, so ask before commissioning one.

What it costs

Notarial fees are not set by statute and vary between practitioners. As a market estimate only:

• certifying a copy of a signed report or letter: roughly $80–$150
• a larger bundle: often charged by page or by bundle, so ask for a quote
• witnessing a doctor's signature or your signed authority: roughly $90–$180

Doctors and hospitals may charge separately for reports and copies. DFAT and embassy fees are per document and set by them.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bring a printout from my patient portal? A notary can certify it only as a copy of the page you brought, which most recipients will not value. A signed report from the doctor is better.

Will a Justice of the Peace do? For use in Australia, often yes. For use overseas, no: JP certifications are not recognised abroad and cannot be apostilled.

Does the notary read my records? The notary compares the copy with the original, so will see what is on the pages. Bring only what the recipient needs.