How state laws can stymie research into your ancestors' psychiatric records

abcnews - Frustrated family members and others have been pushing for law changes in New York and other states that would allow the release of mental health records of long-dead ancestors

AI Summary: Legal researchers warn that a patchwork of state statutes and privacy rules is blocking access to historical psychiatric records needed for family‑history and population‑level studies. The restrictions complicate efforts to understand intergenerational mental‑health patterns and hamper reproducible research, leaving scientists to navigate inconsistent consent, archival access, and litigation risks.