advice on recommendation

[rebeccavich]

I'm writing a recommendation letter for a student who's both very talented and a stellar human being. The recommendation is for a study-abroad program, and one of the things they'd like me to address is the student's maturity and likelihood of unproblematic adaptation to living abroad. It so happens that this particular student was recently (a

Comments

[hkmercredi]

Actually, since the poster isn't a medical practioner, nurse, or in any way responsible for or has access to the student's medical records, passing along this information would not be in violation of HIPAA.

The student has presumably told the poster about this accident, as opposed to having heard about this from, for example, a school nurse (which, without written consent from the student, WOULD have been in violation of HIPAA).

[hkmercredi]

I'm glad you're going to ask the student first. One of my recommenders wrote about my mother's cancer in his letter. Needless to say, I was rather taken aback when one of the teachers asked about it, since I was unaware that this was going to be broadcast

[green_knight]

I'd like to second this - the details, including it being an accident - are nobody's concern. If the student can do the work that is all the program needs to know - if he wants to tell them more himself, that's his thing. 'Going strong in the face of adversity' is all you need to put in.

[sensaes]

Potential minefield. If the student really is "very talented" and "a stellar human being", you shouldn't find it too difficult to cite examples which are relevant to the areas they want info/opinions on and skip the accident altogether.