HIPAA Blog

[ Wednesday, December 06, 2006 ]

 

Hawaii: The Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled that personal health information is protected under the Hawaii Constitution and has ordered a trial court to revise its protective order to prevent disclosure of any personal health information outside the particular litigation. The case, Brende v. Hara, Haw., No. 27964, 11/27/06, involved an underlying case between the Brendes and State Farm over an auto accident. The Brendes had to give up their PHI since the case involved their injuries, and the court issued a protective order that followed HIPAA: protected the PHI received from "covered entities" but not PHI received from other sources not bound by HIPAA. The Brendes wanted a protective order that prevented State Farm from disclosing any personal health information, not just PHI covered by HIPAA. Judge Hana refused to issue the expanded protective order, so the Brendes sued him. The Supreme Court said the Constitution protects personal information, so Hana actually abused his discretion by not issuing the expanded order.

Case is noted on BNA here (subscription required).

Jeff [11:17 AM]

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