Statute of Limitations

Faced with a medical history form to complete, inevitably I chew the end of my pen in some state of perplexion. (Yup, another word invented for my personal lexicon).

The questions are directed towards 'yes or no' responses, and many of them seem rather obsolete.  For instance 'Have you ever had any major surgery / operations?' Yes. But a removed gall bladder (33 years ago) and two caesarean sections (26 and 22 years ago respectively) hardly seem critically relevant today. Should the question not read 'Have you ever reacted badly to a general anesthetic?' or 'Have you had an organ removed?' - isn't that the meat of what they really want to know?

Where do long cleared childhood conditions fit in?  My temporal lobe epilepsy was declared treated 40 years ago after a series of normal EEG's.  So how do I answer the question 'Have you ever suffered from Epilepsy or any similar brain disorder?' Couldn't they put a time limit on that, say, 15 years, and rephrase that question 'Have you suffered any incidence of Epilepsy or similar brain disorder in the past 15 years?' 

It's not as though the forms are blessed with oodles of space for awkward handwritten explanations - 'yes I did but it was cured 40 years ago with no further sign of it since.'

Yet, drilled by some Puritanical need to come clean and confess, I religiously scrawl cramped notes with arrows directing the reader from the question to the answer.  Only to have the Dr / Technician glance at the form, ask when the condition ceased, then proceed to ignore the information.

Today, medicated conditions such as ADD and ADHD are all too commonly diagnosed and treated.  With time, many youngsters learn to manage the condition without drugs and continue to lead fully functional lives.  Until one day, needing a medical certificate for the opportunity of a lifetime, they are faced with 'Have you ever been treated for a brain disorder?' and minutes before a blood pressure test they overflow with anxiety and adrenaline.  'Do I answer Yes because I was on Ritalin for a while decades ago?'  A particular conundrum as in this case, Iron Man honesty combined with the reality that a false answer will mean eviction from the project, while admitting to a 'brain disorder' could kibosh taking part at all.

Yup, I realise that a) space is limited and b) the medics need to get the info as fast as possible, there isn't time to read essays, but it seems to me that better phrased questions could elicit monosyllabic answers in a more meaningful, useful way.