Title: Young v. Madison General Hospital
Citation: 337 So. 2d 931
Docket Number: 48790
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: October 5, 1976

337 So. 2d 931 (1976) Carrie YOUNG et al. v. MADISON GENERAL HOSPITAL et al. No. 48790. Supreme Court of Mississippi. October 5, 1976. *932 Blackmon &amp; Smith, Canton, for appellants. Case, Montgomery &amp; Smith-Vaniz, Canton, for appellees. Before GILLESPIE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and LEE, JJ. ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court: Carrie Young, Robert Smith, Lillie R. Diamond, Cammie Ricks, Eloise Nelson, and Mississippi Association for Community Health Care for the Poor, brought suit individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, against the Madison General Hospital, Sidney Whittington, Administrator, the individual members of the Board of Directors of the Hospital, and the Madison County Board of Supervisors, in the Chancery Court of Madison County. Complainants prayed for a permanent injunction "enjoining defendant Hospital, its agents, servants, employees and officers from further withholding information from medical records in the control and custody of said Hospital". A general demurrer was sustained to the original bill of complaint. Whereupon, complainants dismissed as to the Madison County Board of Supervisors and amended their bill of complaint. The matter was then tried on the amended bill of complaint and answer thereto. After a full hearing the chancellor dismissed the amended bill of complaint. The complainants appeal. Complainant Carrie Young was the only former patient of the Madison General Hospital to testify. Mrs. Betty Griffin, who was in charge of the medical records at the Madison-Yazoo-Leake Family Health Center, testified for the complainants. Mrs. Young testified that she was a new patient at the health center, and that she had been a patient on numerous occasions at the Madison General Hospital since 1968. She testified that she had five children, all of whom were delivered at the Madison General Hospital. On cross-examination Mrs. Young stated: Complainant Young further testified that she signed a "Release of Information" form on June 13, 1974. That form recited: *933 A second form was signed by Carrie Bell Young on October 11, 1974. That form recited: Mrs. Griffin testified that she mailed these form releases for Mrs. Young and all of the other named complainants to the Madison General Hospital. Three statutes cover the ownership and release of medical and hospital records on patients. Mississippi Code Annotated section 41-9-65 (1972) provides: Mississippi Code Annotated section 41-9-67 (1972) styled "Hospital records not public records; privileged communications rule not impaired", provides: Mississippi Code Annotated section 13-1-21 (1972), styled "Communications privileged; exception", provides in part: Even a cursory reading of these sections makes crystal clear the careful investigation *934 that must be made and the great caution that must be exercised before doctors and hospitals authorize the inspection and release of the medical and hospital records of patients. A release of this information to the wrong person or wrong organization could cause embarrassment to the patient, and could possibly be the subject of a lawsuit for damages. The treating doctor or hospital is under a heavy duty and responsibility to thoroughly check the credentials of the person or organization requesting access to a patient's records and to determine the specific records desired. In the case at bar, all so-called requests for records were mailed to the Madison General Hospital by the Medical Records Department of the Family Health Center. This center did not come into being until January, 1974, and as of July 2, 1974, had enrolled 1227 families and 3470 individuals in its health services program. Every request for reasonable access to a patient's records was handled by mail. At no time did Mrs. Betty Griffin or Dr. William Truly, medical director of the center, personally appear at the Madison General Hospital and ask for reasonable access to any patient's records. In the case of Mrs. Young, who was the only former patient of the Madison General Hospital to testify, no indication was made by Mrs. Young, Dr. Truly or Mrs. Griffin of what particular records the treating doctor needed to see or what records they needed copies of, even though Mrs. Young had been a patient there many times over a considerable span of years and had been treated for illnesses and disabilities running the gamut from normal childbirth to pleurisy and pneumonia. Medical and hospital records of a patient are of a highly personal nature and as the statute says are privileged communications between the patient and his doctor or between the patient and the hospital. That is the reason the statute limits the patient, his or her attending medical personnel, and his or her duly authorized nominees "to reasonable access to the information contained therein upon good cause shown ... and upon payment of any reasonable charges for such service." Medical and hospital records being highly personal in nature, reasonable access to them cannot be the subject of a class action suit. The question could be logically asked as to just exactly what was expected of the hospital when it received the form through the mail requesting "reasonable access to information contained in the medical records of Carrie Bell Young". Was the hospital expected to promptly reproduce and send to the medical records department of the family health center all medical and hospital records of Carrie Bell Young from 1968 through October 1974? Was the health center willing to pay for these voluminous records? We construe the form request signed by Carrie Bell Young on October 11, 1974, to require the Madison General Hospital to provide Mrs. Betty Griffin or Dr. William Truly reasonable access to the medical and hospital records of Mrs. Young when Mrs. Griffin or Dr. Truly appeared personally at the Madison General Hospital and personally requested reasonable access. After carefully checking these hospital records at the Madison General Hospital, Mrs. Griffin or Dr. Truly should designate which of the records the center would need, and for which the center would be willing to pay for producing copies. The appellants not having complied with the requirements of Mississippi Code Annotated sections 41-9-65 and 13-1-21 (1972), the chancellor was correct in dismissing the original and amended bills of complaint, and his decree so doing is affirmed. AFFIRMED. GILLESPIE, C.J., PATTERSON and INZER, P. JJ., and SMITH, SUGG, WALKER, BROOM and LEE, JJ., concur.