Provides that in medical malpractice actions where the plaintiff is not the patient of the defendant and the alleged malpractice is the result of the defendant's treatment or care of a third party, the defendant may make a motion to the court to compel the non-party patient to waive the privilege; provides the court shall grant a waiver of the privilege in certain instances.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
234
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAGNARELLI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the
disclosure of medical records in third party medical malpractice
actions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new
2 section 4550 to read as follows:
3 § 4550. Disclosure of medical records in third party medical malprac-
4 tice action. 1. In medical malpractice actions where the plaintiff is
5 not the patient of the defendant and the alleged malpractice is the
6 result of the defendant's treatment or care of a non-party, the defend-
7 ant may make a motion to the court to compel the non-party patient,
8 notwithstanding any state or federal privacy laws to the contrary, to
9 waive the privilege in order to obtain disclosure of medical records
10 relevant to the litigation or permit the defendant to testify about his
11 or her interactions with the non-party patient. The court shall grant a
12 waiver of the privilege if:
13 (a) The defendant can show that the non-party patient has failed to
14 waive the privilege after a good faith effort by the defendant was made
15 to obtain the waiver; and
16 (b) The record or testimony demonstrates that the requested informa-
17 tion and/or records may provide a defense to the action.
18 2. In the interest of confidentiality, the judge may order that the
19 hearing be held in camera. The judge may also limit the scope of any
20 disclosure order to only medical information that is relevant to the
21 pending action.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
23 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00317-01-3
