Opinion ID: 1676136
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: medical records release

Text: DOCTOR: _________________________________ DOCTOR: _________________________________ DOCTOR: _________________________________ HOSPITAL: _______________________________ HOSPITAL: _______________________________ HOSPITAL: _______________________________ You are hereby authorized to permit the law firm of BROWN & JAMES, P.C., or their agent, to examine and/or copy all hospital, medical and dental records in your possession concerning my examination, treatment or confinement, said medical records to include, but not limited to, x-rays, CT scans, laboratory tests, nurses' notes, doctors' notes, consultations, admitting and discharge summaries, and bills. A copy of this authorization shall be sufficient to release medical records. Stecher refused to sign the authorizations, contending that they were too broad. Defendants then filed a motion to compel. Respondent, Hon. James R. Dowd, sustained the motion and ordered Stecher to execute the authorizations. Because Stecher claimed lost wages in his answers to defendants' interrogatories, defendants also requested that he sign authorizations regarding his employment records. Stecher objected to these authorizations as well, again arguing that they were overly broad. Upon defendants' motion, Judge Dowd ordered that Stecher execute employment authorizations that would direct the employers to appear in court with Stecher's employment file for an in camera inspection of the file. The order specified that both Stecher's attorney and the defendants' attorneys would be allowed to be present. Stecher filed a petition for writ of prohibition in the Court of Appeals, Eastern District, seeking to prevent Judge Dowd from enforcing these orders, but the Court of Appeals denied the petition. Stecher then filed the petition with this Court, which granted a preliminary writ pursuant to Rules 84.22 to 84.24.