Gallo v. Conemaugh Health Sys. – April 2015 (Summary)

CONFIDENTIALITY OF DRUG & ALCOHOL TREATMENT RECORDS

Gallo v. Conemaugh Health Sys., No. 1101 WDA 2014 (Pa. Super. Ct. Apr. 17, 2015)

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania reversed a lower court’s ruling that a physician must turn over his drug and alcohol treatment records, holding that those records were privileged under the federal Public Health Service Act and the state Drug and Alcohol Abuse Control Act.

This case arose after the estate of a patient who died following toe amputation surgery sued the anesthesiologist and the hospital where he worked. The estate alleged, among other things, that the anesthesiologist was impaired at the time he treated the patient. Notably, the 81-year-old patient’s pre-surgical anesthesia evaluation did not include a physical examination, cardiac evaluation, or a pulmonary assessment, even though the patient had a history of both cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions.

During discovery, the patient’s estate asked the court to compel the physician to release his personal drug and alcohol treatment records after it learned of the physician’s history of alcohol abuse. This history included eight DUIs, the last of which occurred just one month before the patient’s surgery. The physician objected to the estate’s discovery request, asserting federal and state privileges to protect his drug and alcohol treatment information.

The lower court ruled that the physician waived the privileges by stating in a court filing (the Answer) that he was not under the influence of alcohol when he treated the patient. Also, the court ruled that the anesthesiologist’s treatment records should be released because the plaintiffs had shown good cause justifying an exception to the privilege.

In this opinion, the appellate court reversed that lower court ruling, holding that the physician had not waived the privileges applicable to his treatment records and, further, that there is no “good cause” provision in the state statute which would allow disclosure of treatment records in a case such as this.