Advance Release Opinions – January 11

The Connecticut Supreme Court advance released an opinion about privacy law, which I review below.

Privacy Law

Byrne v. Avery Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology, P.C. – Who would have thought that a patient didn’t already have a right to sue a doctor for disclosing the patient’s medical records without the patient’s consent? Certainly not me. Thankfully, this decision confirms that Connecticut law recognizes such claims. Byrne had had a personal relationship with Mendoza that ended in 2004. In 2005, Mendoza started a paternity action against Byrne and subpoenaed Byrne’s medical records from Avery. Without obtaining Byrne’s consent or resisting the subpoena, Avery produced Byrne’s records to Mendoza. Byrne sued Avery for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress, among other things. The trial court granted Avery summary judgment on these two claims, concluding that no Connecticut court had yet recognized them and that recognition was better left to the appellate courts or legislature. The Supreme Court “conclude[d] that a duty of confidentiality arises from the physician-patient relationship and that unauthorized disclosure of confidential information obtained in the course of that relationship for the purpose of treatment gives rise to a cause of action sounding in tort against the health care provider, unless the disclosure is otherwise allowed by law.” The Court then said that, absent a court order, producing documents in response to a subpoena was not a disclosure otherwise allowed by CGS § 52-146o, but might be a disclosure allowed by HIPAA. Reversed and remanded because “there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the defendant violated the duty of confidentiality by the manner in which it disclosed the plaintiff’s medical records in response to the subpoena.”