Legal Question in Personal Injury in New York

Re: HIPAA and Personal Injury Law

The most appropriate way to handle this is to first request HIPAA compliant authorizations during the discovery process and to obtain copies of the records before taking depositions. If the plaintiff objects, then at least the defendant can argue to the Court for a ruling.

It is then customary that the defendant ask for a new set of authorizations to be served with a subpoena prior to trial. If the defendant waits until just before trial, and plaintiff objects, then the defendant may have a problem getting a ruling from the court without causing a delay of the trial. Further, the court may not like it if none of those records were requested during discovery.

More likely than not, if copies are obtained during discovery, both sides will stipulate that they are the medical records and there will be no need to subpoena the originals.

Re: HIPAA and Personal Injury Law

No need for case law. If you have been sued, and the plaintiff's prior medical records relate to his/her current condition, your attorney can request a HIPAA-compliant authorization, addressed to the appropriate doctor or hospital, which your attorney can use to obtain the records.