Thank you for your reply. We have the information on how to obtain individual records on known persons. I would like the Costa Mesa information just in case someone asks for it. Have contact at Sonoma. Not all records were sent there.. some went to state archives, some to SJChealth dept...from what I recall. We are not looking for one individual. There are over 3,500 unknown persons buried in the old Stockton State Hospital cemetery. The names and information on their death/burials is considered part of the medical records for the state hospital. The law states that all public cemeteries must provide death/burial information to the public. The State of California sold this cemetery property to the American Legion (Karl Ross Post) in 1948... Karl Ross Post could not use the northern most 5 acres for anything but cemetery purposes until ALL bodies had been removed ... in 1955 the land was rezoned for commercial use... in error. A County Planner stopped the rezone & said it was illegal...only someone forgot to reclassify the land cemetery.. instead it was listed as residential/farming. A judge & two other persons with connections to Karl Ross Post, in a matter of a few hours in the judges chambers, managed to move all 3,500 bodies to a common grave.. nice feat, considering they never left the judges chambers. **all the above is documented. What the goal is, is to have the death/burial records for every person buried in the cemetery released. This means that the State will have to seperate (as it should have in the beginning) all this information from the medical records, and then make the cemetery burial records public. If we had the name and death date of every person buried in this old cemetery, we could look up death information.. but as it stands we have nothing, unless a descendant contacts us looking for a specific person. http://www.rootsweb.com/~moiron2 Iron County MO Web Page http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcampbel/home.htm Margie Campbell's Original Web Page http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcampbel/ Margie Campbell's NEW Site (under construction) HERMES surname maillist host WENSTRÖM surname maillist host ----- Original Message ----- From: "B&B Allured" <allured@jps.net> To: "Margie" <margecam@pacbell.net> Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 9:06 PM Subject: Re: Stockton State Hospital- Getting the laws ammended > Your message was forwarded to me. I was very successful in obtaining access > to my husband's grandfather's records from l9l5. All of the Stockton > records were transferred to Sonoma and later to Costa Mesa. I telephoned to > Costa Mesa and was told exactly how to obtain information and while very > limited it was sent almost immediately. The staff at Costa Mesa are very > helpful and somewhere in my records I may still have the number to contact. > It may be that the person you are inquiring about was there in the more > recent times where the records still remain confidential. If you would like > me to try to find more info for you, please let me know at allured@jps.net > Betty > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Margie <margecam@pacbell.net> > To: SOCAL-L@rootsweb.com <SOCAL-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 2:19 AM > Subject: Stockton State Hospital- Getting the laws ammended > > > Hi everyone: > > The California Archives are following the law in not releasing the > information on those who died & are buried at the old State Hospital > Cemetery. > I agree this law needs to be ammended (you can view this law at: > http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html ) > > Perhaps adding the following as an ammendment to 5328. which reads: > > All information and records obtained in the course of providing services > under Division 4 (commencing with Section 4000), Division 4.1 ( commencing > with Section 4400), Division 4.5 (commencing with Section 4500), Division 5 > ( commencing with Section 5000), Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000), > or Division 7 (commencing with Section 7100), to either voluntary or > involuntary reciepients of services shall be confidential. Information and > records obtained in the course of providing similar services to either > voluntary or involuntary reciepients prior to 1969 shall also be > confidential. Information and records shall be disclosed only in any of the > following cases: > > NOTE: There are 19 pages of reasons... It is my recomendation that all > interested parties read this law carefully.... Suggest an ammendment be > added that will allow the release of information a set number of years after > the death of a patient (75 should be sufficient to not be harmful/hurtful > for anyone connected to the deceased). This could be achieved quickly by > ammending the above paragraph to include: > ....to either voluntary or involuntary reciepients of services shall be > confidential during the lifetime of the individual recieving such services, > and no longer than 75 years after the demise of said individual...... > > Also suggest an ammendment that will legalize the release of all medical > records of any person who recieved services to any descendant who shows > proof of death & proof of relationship to said individual for family genetic > research. > > Also, an ammendment that states all death & burial records for individuals > who died while under treatment at any state facility, are deemed public > information, as mandated by California Health and Safety Code_________. > That all death & burial records of any individual recieving services from a > state facility, who sucumbs while an inmate of a facility, and is buried in > state operated burial grounds, is deemed pubic information under law, and > will be made available to the public. This information will include the > following information: Date of Death, Reason, Burial plot number, place of > burial. > Also, an ammendment needs to be made that states that all remains will be > cared for as mandated under the California Health and Safety code________. > > Also, that all above ammendments are retroactive to include any and all > records on file in State offices, Archives, etc. for this state. Need to > make sure it is the State that will pay for making these available to the > public. > > > I am in process of determining how to word the above properly to submit to > my local officials (Senate, Congress, Assembly). > > This is what needs to be done to get the laws ammended to allow for release > of burial information, medical information for those needing it, etc. > Please feel free to post your suggestions for wording these ammendments.. > and to forward this note to any you feel may be of value in getting the > above done as soon as possible. > > Thanks! > Marge Campbell > > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~moiron2 > Iron County MO Web Page > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcampbel/home.htm > Margie Campbell's Original Web Page > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcampbel/ > Margie Campbell's NEW Site (under construction) > > HERMES surname maillist host > > WENSTRÖM surname maillist host > > > >