M.A.K. v. Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center

M.A.K. v. Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical
Center,
No. 3-99-0618 (Ill. App. 3 Dist. July 18, 2000)

Patient sued hospital alleging that the hospital had breached the physician-patient
relationship by releasing records pertaining to his alcohol treatment to an
insurance company. The Appellate Court of Illinois, Third District allowed the
patient’s suit to go forward. The court determined that the general release
signed by the patient did not meet the federal regulation requiring that a “specific
name or general designation of the program” be present on an authorization
to release alcohol treatment records. The release language that included “any
physician, medical practitioner, hospital, clinic, healthcare facility, or other
medical or medically related facility” failed to provide the requisite
specificity to satisfy the federal regulation.