HIPAA

Griffin v. Burden, No. A06A1074 (Ct. App. Ga. Sept. 7, 2006)

The estate of a deceased patient filed a malpractice suit against several physicians and their professional corporation. As part of the lawsuit, the patient's next of kin executed an authorization to release the patient's medical records which limited the physicians' access to the records. The physicians objected to the authorization and sought dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming that the authorization did not comply with the requirements of a Georgia malpractice law which gives defense counsel the right to obtain and disclose protected health information contained in medical records to facilitate investigation, evaluation, and defense of the claims. The family countered that the Georgia law was preempted by HIPAA and the trial court agreed, without opinion. On appeal, the Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed the decision, and declined to review the constitutionality of the Georgia law because the state supreme court has exclusive jurisdiction over questions of constitutionality and will only rule on such issues if such a question was first addressed by the trial court.