A federal law known as the Privacy Act authorizes you or a representative to request full disclosure of any records the federal government has on you, medical and otherwise. You have to apply for the records in writing to the Social Security field office that is handling your claim, or to the ODAR office that is handling your appeal. You may have a bureaucratic fight on your hands, because Social Security has the right to withhold records it believes will have an adverse affect on you, including a disruption of your doctor/patient relationship, interference with your medical care, or any other vaguely defined “adverse effect.” If there is any kind of skepticism on the part of the doctor shown in the records, Social Security may well deny your request. This exception does not apply if you are making a request for review to the Social Security Appeals Council.