Commonwealth of Pa. Dept. of State, Bureau of Prof. and Occupational Affairs v. Abington Health — Oct. 2016 (Summary)

RELEASE OF RESULTS OF DRUG TESTING

Commonwealth of Pa. Dep’t of State, Bureau of Prof’l and Occupational Affairs v. Abington Health
No. 242 M.D. 2016 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Oct. 28, 2016)

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania granted the request for relief filed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing (“Board”) and ordered a hospital to release to the Board, pursuant to the Board’s investigative subpoena, the drug and alcohol test results of a registered nurse whose employment the hospital terminated based on these results.  The court held that the confidentiality provisions of the Pennsylvania Drug and Alcohol Abuse Control Act applied to patients and their patient records generated for purposes of drug and alcohol treatment, but not to employees and their drug and alcohol test results generated for employment purposes.