How to get your fertility records, and what to ask for

You have decided to get a second opinion, or to move your care to a new clinic. Either way, what makes that first consultation worth anything is your treatment history: your protocol, how you responded, what the embryology report showed. Right now, all of that sits with your current clinic.

This page sets out exactly what to ask for, what Indian law actually entitles you to (it is narrower than most articles claim), and what to do if a clinic is slow to hand it over.

What to ask for, by name

Most patients ask for "my file" and are handed a discharge summary. Indian rules require your clinic to keep far more than that for ten years. Ask for each of these by name:

• The discharge certificate.
• The stimulation protocol, with drug names, doses and dates.
• Your monitoring scan reports.
• Hormone blood results, with dates.
• The egg-retrieval record.
• The embryology or lab report, including fertilisation numbers and embryo grades.
• Embryo images, if any exist.
• The transfer record.
• The outcome, including beta hCG values.

Naming these specifically, rather than asking for "the file," is what gets you the actual documents instead of a one-page summary.

What the law actually entitles you to

India's ART Act requires your clinic to keep detailed records for ten years, but that duty exists so the National Registry and the authorities can inspect them, not so you can request them. The one exception written into the Act itself is the discharge certificate: your clinic must give you one, stating what procedure was performed, without you having to ask for it.

The right to see and copy the rest of your file comes from a different source: the medical-ethics regulations that apply to every doctor in India. Under these, records requested by a patient must be issued within 72 hours, and refusing can amount to professional misconduct. These rules were written with admitted, in-patient care in mind, and most IVF treatment is outpatient, so treat 72 hours as the standard you can invoke and that clinics are generally expected to meet, not as a guarantee written specifically for fertility treatment.

Courts have repeatedly backed a patient's right to their case papers: a clinic cannot refuse on grounds of confidentiality, and cannot withhold the file. Two things follow in practice. You are entitled to a copy, not the original: the physical file belongs to the clinic. And being asked to pay a reasonable copying charge is normal, not a sign anything is wrong.

How to ask, and what to do if the clinic stalls

Put the request in writing, even if you also ask in person, and keep a dated copy for yourself. Use the checklist above rather than asking for "your file": naming the stimulation protocol or the embryology report by name gets a more complete response than a general request does. A reasonable copying charge is normal, not a reason to worry.

If the clinic is slow or unresponsive, there is a specific order to escalate in, and each step is a different forum:

1. First, the clinic's own grievance cell. Every registered ART clinic is required to run one.
2. If that does not resolve it, the Appropriate Authority, using Form 10, the form the rules specify for a complaint of this kind.
3. Separately, a complaint to your State Medical Council, on the ground that withholding your records for an unreasonable time is professional misconduct.

The complaint form itself notes that complaints are handled in the order they are received and that the process can be lengthy, so raise the request early rather than waiting for a moment of urgency. For more on what a grievance cell and the wider complaints process cover, see your rights under the ART Act.

Handing your records to a new clinic

Do not assume your old clinic will send your file on to a new one on its own. Clinics can share your information only in narrow circumstances, such as a medical emergency or a court order, and a routine transfer to another clinic is not one of them. Plan to collect your own copy and carry it with you.

Once you have it, ask the new clinic to review your previous cycle rather than repeat testing from scratch. Two questions are specific to this situation, on top of the general list in questions to ask your clinic: what would you have done differently, and why, and what in this history would change your protocol.

If your old clinic has closed

A clinic closing does not mean your records are gone. If it shuts down before the ten-year retention period ends, the rules require it to transfer everything to the National Registry's central database immediately. After ten years, records move there anyway. A closed clinic is not the end of the trail; the National Registry is the next place to ask.

Sources

• Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, sections 21 and 23. indiacode.nic.in / ICMR.
• Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Rules, 2022, Rule 20 (the grievance-cell complaint format, Form 10) and Rule 23.2 (record retention).
• Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, regulations 1.3.2 and 7.2. A 2023 replacement with a longer response window was put in abeyance by gazette notification on 24 August 2023, and these 2002 rules, with the 72-hour standard, apply again.
• National ART & Surrogacy Portal, the authoritative source for current forms and rules.
• Court decisions backing patient access: Raghunath Raheja v Maharashtra Medical Council, AIR 1996 Bom 198, and Rajappan v Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute, ILR 2004 (2) Kerala 150.

A newer law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, will eventually give a general right to request a copy of your personal data from any organisation that holds it, but its rights machinery is not expected to be operational until around May 2027. It is not a route available to you today.

Can my clinic refuse to give me my records?▾

Not lawfully. Courts have held that a clinic cannot refuse a patient's case papers on grounds of confidentiality, and the medical-ethics rules that apply to every doctor set a 72-hour standard for handing over copies once you have asked. If a clinic still refuses, the escalation steps above are the way to push back.

Do I have to explain why I want them?▾

No. You are not required to give a reason. Ask in writing, name the specific documents you want, and keep a dated copy of the request.

Will asking damage my relationship with the clinic?▾

It should not. Requesting your own records is routine, not confrontational. If a clinic reacts badly to a straightforward request, that reaction itself has told you something.

How long should it take?▾

72 hours is the standard clinics are generally expected to meet once you have asked in writing. It can take longer in practice, especially when records need to be pulled together from more than one department, but a long, unexplained delay is worth escalating.

Can the clinic charge me for copies?▾

Yes, and that is normal. Courts have confirmed clinics may charge a reasonable copying fee. You are entitled to a copy of your records, not the original file, which remains the clinic's property.

What if my old clinic has closed?▾

Your records are not lost. A clinic that closes before the ten-year retention period ends must transfer its records to the National Registry's central database immediately, and all records move there after ten years regardless. The National Registry is the next place to ask.

Next: read your rights under the ART Act, or take the questions to ask a new clinic into your consultation.