North Carolina § 8-53 - Communications between health care provider and patient.

§ 8-53. Communications between health care provider and patient.

No person, duly authorized to practice under Article 1 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, shall be required to disclose any information which he may have acquired in attending a patient in a professional character, and which information was necessary to enable him to prescribe for such patient as a physician, or to do any act for him as a surgeon, and no such information shall be considered public records under G.S. 132-1. Confidential information obtained in medical records shall be furnished only on the authorization of the patient, or if deceased, the executor, administrator, or, in the case of unadministered estates, the next of kin. Any resident or presiding judge in the district, either at the trial or prior thereto, or the Industrial Commission pursuant to law may, subject to G.S. 8-53.6, compel disclosure if in his opinion disclosure is necessary to a proper administration of justice. If the case is in district court the judge shall be a district court judge, and if the case is in superior court the judge shall be a superior court judge. History (1885, c. 159; Rev., s. 1621; C.S., s. 1798; 1969, c. 914; 1977, c. 1118; 1983, c. 410, ss. 1, 2; c. 471; 2019-191, s. 41.) Cross References. - For section authorizing the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources to obtain, notwithstanding this section, a copy or summary of pertinent portions of patient medical records deemed necessary by joint agreement of the attending physician and the Department physician for investigating a disease or health hazard, and providing immunity to a physician providing such copies or summaries, see G.S. 130A-5(2). For section authorizing disclosure of medical information by health care provider under certain circumstances, see G.S. 90-21.20 B. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2019-191, s. 41, effective October 1, 2019, substituted "health care provider" for "physician" in the section heading; and substituted "under Article 1 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes" for "physic or surgery" in the first sentence. Legal Periodicals. - For note on the discretion of the trial judge in compelling disclosure of privileged information in the area of physician-patient privilege, see 41 N.C.L. Rev. 627 (1963). For case law survey on evidence, see 43 N.C.L. Rev. 900 (1965). For note on authority of the judge in a child custody hearing to compel disclosure by a treating physician on the issue of the mental stability of one of the parties, see 46 N.C.L. Rev. 956 (1968); 47 N.C.L. Rev. 265 (1968). For note on reporting patients for review of driver's license, see 48 N.C.L. Rev. 1003 (1970). For comment surveying North Carolina Law of relational privilege, see 50 N.C.L. Rev. 630 (1972). For comment on release of medical records by North Carolina hospitals, see 7 N.C. Cent. L.J. 299 (1976). For comment on the evidentiary implications at trial of the physician-patient privilege, see 12 Wake Forest L. Rev. 849 (1976). For survey of 1979 law on evidence, see 58 N.C.L. Rev. 1456 (1980). For article discussing the psychotherapist-patient privilege, see 60 N.C.L. Rev. 893 (1982). For survey of 1983 law of evidence, see 62 N.C.L. Rev. 1290 (1984). For note on the admissibility of a criminal defendant's hypnotically refreshed testimony, see 10 Campbell L. Rev. 311 (1988). For article, "What's the Harm in Asking?: A Discussion of Waiver of the Physician-Patient Privilege and Ex Parte Interviews with Treating Physicians," see 19 N.C. Cent. L.J. 1 (1990). For comment on the prohibition of ex parte contacts with a plaintiff's treating physician, see 13 Campbell L. Rev. 233 (1991). For note, "Restricting Ex Parte Interviews with Nonparty Treating Physicians: Crist v. Moffatt," see 69 N.C.L. Rev. 1381 (1991).