Medical Malpractice Victim Doesn’t Lose All of Her Medical Privacy Rights
Posted On May 23, 2012 @ 02:21 AM by Ira Slavit
In Del Terzo v. The Hospital For Special Surgery the court rebuffed a defendant’s demand for a medical malpractice victim’s HIV-related information, alcohol/drug treatment information and mental health information. The plaintiff successfully argued that Public Health Law § 2785(2) (HIV-related records) and Mental Hygiene Law § 22.05 and § 33.13 (records of chemical dependency) protected her from having to give defendant's attorneys authorizations to obtain those sensitive records. Hopefully the courts will pay heed to this decision, and not limit it to HIV-related information and chemical dependence situations (or just to medical malpractice cases as opposed to motor vehicle or slip-and-fall- cases).