Medical Records: Confidentiality Cannot Be Breached In Advance Of Legal Processes
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
September 1996
It is a breach of medical confidentiality for a healthcare facility to release a patient’s records before being served with a court subpoena or with a proper medical-records release executed by the patient.
In this case a patient filed suit for breach of medical confidentiality claiming damages for humiliation and embarrassment, because his medical records were released to the attorney defending the patient’s medical malpractice claim against another facility. The Court of Appeal of Louisiana upheld the suit.
An attorney may have the option to access a party’s medical records by subpoena or with a court order compelling the patient to sign a release. However, there is a definite breach of medical confidentiality for a healthcare facility to release a patient’s records before being served with a court subpoena or with a proper medical-records release executed by the patient. Sanders vs. Spector, 673 So. 2d 1176 (La. App., 1996).