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Background. Medical records often contain scattered free-text notes on the patient’s biographical details. Some recent and some older, these details can sometimes have unexpected consequences on their state of health, or be important for their follow-up care. The lack of standardized writing makes it difficult for caregivers to use this information for medical and scientific purposes. It therefore seems advisable to explore how “life events” are structured in medical records, by attempting to answer the following question: Is it possible to formalize a list of life events that can be used by doctors in medical records in current practice? Method. The work was carried out in three stages: 1) bibliographical research to list all publications mentioning the concept of life events; 2) formalization of a list of life events; and 3) evaluation of the list’s operability via a quantitative survey distributed to GPs. Results. The working group selected a list of forty-eight life events, divided into eight categories. Analysis of the list’s evaluation showed that doctors were very supportive of both its content and its usefulness. The participants suggested a few adjustments to the list, and stressed the importance of integrating it into medical software. Conclusion. The creation of a list of life events for use in medical records is feasible. Its acceptance by doctors is encouraging, and suggests that we should move on to an operational phase to improve record-keeping, and hence the quality of care, while making it easier for doctors to make decisions.