profession
Ohio court protects medical records
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 18, 2010
A recent Ohio appeals court ruling reaffirmed the state's physician-patient privilege statute.
The 7th District Court of Appeals, in a Dec. 4, 2009, decision, rejected a patient's request for the medical records of another patient who was not a party to a medical liability suit.
Carol Bednarik alleged that St. Elizabeth Health Center negligently placed her in a room with a patient who had methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Bednarik later contracted the illness. The hospital denied any wrongdoing.
Bednarik claimed she needed the other patient's medical records to prove her case and that her interests outweighed the patient's confidentiality rights. A trial court agreed.
But appellate judges said state law provided for no such exception to physician-patient privilege, which protects such records from discovery.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/01/18/prbf0118.htm.
