DEFENDANTS WERE ONLY ENTITLED TO CLAIM-RELATED RECORDS
A medical malpractice case was filed (on behalf of a dead patient), alleging that the defendant doctors had, during the course of a hip surgery, “unnecessarily created a long incision on decedent's lower left leg.”
When the defendant doctors and hospital sought to compel the “unrestricted” release of “mental health, drug/alcohol treatment and HIV-related records,” that request was granted by the Bronx County Supreme Court.
On appeal, the Appellate Division, First Department, noted that the defendants had failed to establish a “particularized need” for all that information, and thought the defendants were only entitled to records relating “to the left hip surgery and leg incision.”
Absent a compelling basis or “need” for the decedent’s “alcohol abuse, substance abuse, or mental health record,” the AD1 was of the view the defendants were not entitled to either that information or the decedent’s HIV records, and modified the underlying order accordingly.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, it thought the plaintiff’s request for sanctions was appropriately denied, as the defendants had made a “good faith argument” that they were entitled to the requested information.
That’s certainly one for the records.
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DECISION