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Biddle v. Warren General Hospital9/15/1999
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This brings us to the fourth issue presented in this case, which is whether the hospital did in fact obtain such consent. The hospital contends that its general authorization for release of information form was sufficient to permit it to disclose the patient registration forms to its attorney. The form provides:
"Authorization is hereby granted to release to my insurance company and/or third party payor such information including medical records as may be necessary for the completion of my hospitalization claims. I understand that the information released upon authority of this authorization may contain information concerning treatment for alcohol, drug abuse, a psychiatric condition, or HIV test results, an AIDS diagnosis, or AIDS-related condition."
By its express terms, this form authorizes the hospital to release medical information only "to my insurance company and/or third party payor," and then only "as may be necessary for the completion of my hospitalization claims." It does not authorize the release of medical information to the hospital's lawyer, and certainly not for the purpose of determining the patient's status as a potential Social Security claimant.
The hospital argues, however, that " n the form, the patient told the hospital that it was acceptable to disclose confidential information on an as-needed basis to secure third party payment of the patient's bill." The patient told the hospital no such thing. What the patient told the hospital is that it may "release to my insurance company and/or third party payor such information including medical records as may be necessary for the completion of my hospitalization claims." In no way can this language be read to encompass what has occurred in this case.
Moreover, a consent to release medical information must be fairly specific in terms of to whom the release is made. As one court explained:
"Subparagraph (a)(4) of [Ga.Code] § 37-7-166 would have authorized disclosure of the clinical records and the attending psychiatrist's affidavit to the patient's attorney if the patient consented to the release. The patient consented to this release, but the release was not made to the patient's attorney; it was made to her mother's attorney. Disclosure of this material was therefore unauthorized under § 37-7-166(a)(4). The release of clinical records and the attending physician's affidavit based thereon was therefore unauthorized." (Emphasis sic.) Mrozinski, supra, 205 Ga.App. at 736, 423 S.E.2d at 410.
In this case, the hospital's general consent form did not provide the authority to release medical information to the law firm and, therefore, the disclosures were unauthorized.
The fifth and final substantive issue is whether a third party can be held liable for inducing the unauthorized, unprivileged disclosure of nonpublic medical information. Those courts that have considered this issue have answered in the affirmative, and, for the reasons expressed in those decisions, we now do the same. See Hammonds, supra, 243 F.Supp. at 803; Morris, supra, 191 W.Va. at 435, 446 S.E.2d at 657; Alberts, supra, 395 Mass. at 70-71, 479 N.E.2d at 121; Alexander, supra, 197 Pa.Super. at 79, 177 A.2d at 146.
The law firm argues that "Attorney Heller needed the information set forth on the patient registration forms to determine which patients might be eligible for the SSI program." We have no doubt of this. In each of the cases cited above, the alleged inducer needed the information for some reason or purpose. However, the inducer's need for the information is irrelevant unless it is to advance or protect some interest giving rise to a privilege.
The
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