By subpoena or by a Writ of Non Party Discovery, a medical practitioner can be compelled to disclose to a patient, or to a person other than the patient, that patient's medical records. The courts have not made any definitive determination to assist medical practitioners to assess the scope of relevance of documents when responding to Writs of Non Party Discovery. A doctor can seek information from the party who issued the Writ as to what matters are in question in the particular court action before a decision is made as to what records should be released under compulsion of the Writ. Disclosure of all records in a patient's file may be validly required or a limited release of documents will be required. The unauthorised release of documents which are not relevant to the matters in question in a particular case can result in a breach of a doctor's duty of confidentiality.
Care is required in all cases.
Writs can be challenged. In a successful challenge, the onus is on the doctor to satisfy the Court that compliance with the Writ is unnecessary, on the grounds that there are no relevant records in the possession or control of the doctor. Contact Clare Endicott who practises in the area of personal injuries litigation and is an accredited personal injuries specialist by the Queensland Law Society. The information provided on these Focus pages is general and is not advice on any particular matter. Given the changing nature of laws, rules and regulations, and the inherent hazards of electronic communication, there may be delays, omissions or inaccuracies in information contained at this site.