When a person suspected of driving while impaired is involved in a crash and receives medical treatment, the State may wish to obtain the person’s medical records for use in criminal prosecution. What standards and procedures govern the disclosure of such records? Medical records are confidential. G.S. 8-53 renders confidential information obtained by a health care provider in “attending a patient in a professional character,” that is “necessary to enable him to prescribe for such patient as a physician, or to do any act for him as a surgeon.” Thus, a health care provider may not be required to disclose such information. Moreover, when confidential information of this sort is memorialized in medical records, and the patient is living, G.S. 8-53 provides that it may be disclosed only with permission of the patient or pursuant to an order issued by the appropriate judicial official (or the Industrial Commission in appropriate cases). In addition, federal regulations impose restrictions on health care providers’ disclosure of protected health information. 45 C.F.R. Parts 160, 164. Health care providers subject to these requirements may disclose such information for a law enforcement purposes to a law enforcement official in compliance with a court order or court-ordered warrant, or a subpoena or summons issued by a judicial official. 45 C.F.R. 164.512. Exception to confidentiality rules in crash cases. Notwithstanding these confidentiality rules, G.S. 90-21.20B(a1) requires a health care provider providing medical treatment to a person involved in a vehicle crash to disclose certain information to a law enforcement [...]
Faculty Coordinators
