Hawaii DOH Has Destroyed Permanent Records

Hawaii DOH Has Destroyed Permanent Records
May 18, 2010 | Butterdezillion

Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 11:41:44 AM by butterdezillion

The Hawaii Department of Health claims in official communications that the original birth index and index of foreign births (which are both required to be retained permanently) don’t exist.

When vital records were converted to their current electronic format and the computer itself allowed sorting and locating, the HDOH submitted the old, original paper indices (VR-1)to the comptroller for a determination of what should happen to them. The comptroller agreed that those indices should be retained permanently, as originals and/or as security and search microfilms.

The HDOH at the same time made a separate request for the certificates themselves (VR-2)to be analyzed and it was decided that they, too, should be kept as originals and microfilm security and search copies authorized.

So there were 2 different requests for 2 different kinds of documents which were in physical form, able to be microfilmed.

The Hawaii State Archivist says that microfilm copies were not requested for the indices and the Vital Statistics Office should have the originals as required in the retention schedule.

I asked the HDOH for their documentation regarding the destruction of these documents. (Every department is required to keep detailed records of what documents they have destroyed, showing that they followed the retention schedule.) The deadline for them to respond is past and they have not provided those records.

The illegal destruction of permanent records SHOULD prompt an investigation in Hawaii. We will see what the Ombudsman does with this. (Don’t hold your breath)

The documentation for all this is on a new post at my blog, which I will link to in the 2nd comment.

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