Opinion ID: 1101528
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the physician-patient privilege was applicable.

Text: ¶ 4. Jones argues first that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the results of his urinalysis were not protected from disclosure by the physician-patient privilege. The privilege may be found at Miss.Code Ann. § 13-1-21(1) (Rev.2002) and Mississippi Rule of Evidence 503. None of the exceptions found in Rule 503 are applicable here. ¶ 5. This Court has stated that the physician-patient privilege applies in criminal cases. Hopkins v. State, 799 So.2d 874 (Miss.2001); State v. Baptist Mem'l Hosp.-Golden Triangle, 726 So.2d 554 (Miss. 1999); Cotton v. State, 675 So.2d 308 (Miss.1996); Ashley v. State, 423 So.2d 1311 (Miss.1982). However, these cases are distinguishable on their facts from Jones's situation. In Ashley, the privilege was waived when Ashley failed to timely object. In Cotton, the privilege in question was not Cotton's, but a witness's. In Baptist Mem'l, there was a statutory exception to the privilege, and in Hopkins, the defendant waived the privilege. In this case the evidence in question came under the physician-patient privilege, and there was no waiver and no statutory exception. The Court of Appeals noted that without the urinalysis results there was no evidence of cocaine in Jones's system. Citing Baptist Mem'l, the Court of Appeals found that to ensure the proper administration of justice, the medical records regarding the analysis of Jones's urine specimen must be removed from the protection of the physician-patient privilege. Jones, ___ So.2d at ___, 2003 WL 21005836, at  (¶ 20). A defendant in a criminal case may not rely on this privilege to exclude incriminating evidence. This Court, citing cases from other jurisdictions, made this same point numerous times in Baptist Mem'l, 726 So.2d at 559, 560, stating that [w]here there is an investigation into a serious and/or dangerous felony, public policy must override the rights of an individual, and that the physician-patient privilege would not be used as a cloak for a crime. This issue is without merit.