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Fairfax Hospital v. Curtis10/31/1997
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF FAIRFAX COUNTY
David T. Stitt, Judge
I.
In this appeal we consider, among other things, whether a patient has a cause of action against a health care provider which voluntarily disseminated the patient's medical records to third parties without the patient's authorization.
II.
Seeking compensatory and punitive damages, Patricia Curtis filed a motion for judgment against INOVA Health System Foundation, Inc., Linda Beckett, and Nancy Perrelli and another motion for judgment against INOVA Health System Hospitals, Inc., which owns and operates Fairfax Hospital. Both motions for judgment were consolidated by order of the trial court. As relevant to this appeal, the plaintiff alleged in her motions for judgment that the defendants improperly disseminated her "private and confidential medical records and treatment information" to third persons.
The defendants asserted in a demurrer and plea in bar that: the plaintiff waived any privilege of confidentiality in her medical records by filing a medical malpractice claim; the plaintiff had not alleged a cause of action because she sought damages solely for emotional distress; and the plaintiff's claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Overruling the demurrer, the court held that the plaintiff had a cause of action against the defendants for the unauthorized dissemination of her medical records without her consent. The court also denied the defendants' special plea of the statute of limitations.
The litigants stipulated the relevant facts underlying this dispute, but disagreed about the application of the law. Consequently, the litigants submitted factual statements with exhibits to the trial court and stipulated damages. The trial court entered a judgment on behalf of the plaintiff for the amount of the stipulated damages, $100,000, and the defendants appeal.
III.
Plaintiff received prenatal care at Fairfax Hospital beginning in July 1988. She was admitted to Fairfax Hospital in January 1989, and gave birth to a child, Jessie Curtis, on February 13, 1989. During the course of such treatment, she communicated personal information, including her medical history, to Fairfax Hospital's employees. Jessie later suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and died.
In March 1990, Patricia Curtis, in her capacity as administrator of the estate of Jessie Curtis, filed a notice of claim against Fairfax Hospital System, Linda Beckett, and others, pursuant to the Virginia Medical Malpractice Act. Beckett was a nurse in the Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit at the time of Jessie's birth.
Following receipt of the notice of claim, Nancy Perrelli, INOVA Health System Foundation's Director of Legal Affairs, requested that the Hospital provide a complete copy of Patricia Curtis' medical records to Gerald R. Walsh, an attorney for the Hospital. Subsequently, Walsh directed "that a copy of the medical records be provided to Nurse Beckett." Perrelli complied with Walsh's directive.
The plaintiff's counsel learned during a discovery deposition of Beckett that she "had possession of, and had reviewed three to four days before the deposition, the medical records obtained from Perrelli, pursuant to the direction of defense counsel Walsh. Beckett brought a copy of the medical records to the deposition." The medical records contained very personal information about plaintiff's medical history before and after her pregnancy with Jessie Curtis.
IV.
A.
The defendants, relying upon Pierce v. Caday, 244 Va. 285, 422 S.E.2d 371 (1992), argue that Virginia d
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