In a case that is somewhat reminiscent of the case involving cemetery records in Nebraska, Jesse Leavenworth of The Hartford Courant reports that:
A group of researchers says the state’s mental health agency is withholding information about a significant chapter in Connecticut history.
The researchers, who are compiling a book on the state’s role in the Civil War, are seeking files from Connecticut Valley Hospital on veterans who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, known in the 19th century as “soldier’s heart.”
The conflict pits the historians’ desire to tell complete stories of those Yankee fighters against the state’s responsibility to protect patient rights, extended in this case to the living relatives of those long-dead soldiers.
This case goes beyond the Nebraska case, however, because the researchers want to be able to match patients’ names with details of their history and treatment.