In a recent New York Times op-ed piece entitled “How a Bad Law and a Big Mistake Drove My Mentally Ill Son Away,” the father of a young man involuntarily hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act decries “privacy laws” for limiting his access to information about his son’s whereabouts and care.   If this account is accurate, it highlights the widespread confusion that surrounds  health care providers’ communication with family members.

The article’s author, Norman Ornstein, describes a disturbing incident in which his son Matthew’s landlord reported that Matthew’s behavior was putting himself in danger.  Based on the landlord’s report, which Ornstein later describes as a pretext for removing Matthew from the property, Ornstein and his wife agreed to authorize a 72-hour involuntary commitment under the Florida statute.  They later learned that Matthew had been seized by police and taken to the county mental health facility, where he was held for three days and released.  He reported:

But the staff members wouldn’t let us in. In fact, they said privacy rules meant that they could not even confirm that he was there. … The Baker Act allows 72 hours of involuntary observation to see whether someone is in fact an imminent danger to himself or others. Matthew was not, and after three awful days, he was put in a taxi and sent home. We were not informed when he was released.

Matthew had begun to struggle with mental illness at age 24, but his age at the time is not specified.  Since he was no longer a minor, his parents would not be “personal representatives” with access to all his health information absent a guardianship appointment, power of attorney, or similar process recognized under applicable law.  However, the facility would have been permitted to confirm his admission and general condition under the HIPAA “directory exception,” which states:

(a) Standard: Use and disclosure for facility directories

(1) Permitted uses and disclosure. Except when an objection is expressed in accordance with paragraphs (a)(2) or (3) of this section, a covered health care provider may:

(i) Use the following protected health information to maintain a directory of individuals in its facility:

(A) The individual’s name;

(B) The individual’s location in the covered health care provider’s facility;

(C) The individual’s condition described in general terms that does not communicate specific medical information about the individual; and

(D) The individual’s religious affiliation; and

(ii) Use or disclose for directory purposes such information:

(A) To members of the clergy; or

(B) Except for religious affiliation, to other persons who ask for the individual by name.

HIPAA also allows family members to be given information in order to locate an individual, and allows the sharing of protected health information directly relevant to the family members’ involvement with the individual’s health care or payment for such care.

(b) Standard: Uses and disclosures for involvement in the individual’s care and notification purposes

(1) Permitted uses and disclosures.

(i) A covered entity may, in accordance with paragraphs (b)(2), (b)(3), or (b)(5) of this section, disclose to a family member, other relative, or a close personal friend of the individual, or any other person identified by the individual, the protected health information directly relevant to such person’s involvement with the individual’s health care or payment related to the individual’s health care.

(ii) A covered entity may use or disclose protected health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating), a family member, a personal representative of the individual, or another person responsible for the care of the individual of the individual’s location, general condition, or death.

Finally, the facility could have simply asked Matthew if he agreed to allow the facility to notify his parents that he was being treated there. The Times account does not indicate whether the facility attempted to seek his consent, and it is possible that he was asked and refused.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health and Human Services has addressed these concerns in a bulletin entitled HIPAA Helps Caregiving Connections –  HIPAA helps family and friends stay connected with loved ones who have a substance use disorder, including opioid abuse, or a mental or behavioral health condition:

If a family member, friend, or person you are caring for, has a mental health condition, substance use disorder (including opioid abuse), or other health problem, it can be difficult to stay connected if their condition worsens and they enter a health care facility for observation or treatment. HIPAA helps by allowing the health and mental health providers who treat your loved one to make decisions about communicating with his or her family and friends based on their professional judgment about what is best for the patient.

For Notification Purposes: HIPAA helps you stay connected with your loved one by permitting health professionals to contact you with information related to your family member, friend, or the person you are caring for, that is necessary and relevant to your involvement with the patient’s health care or payment for care. For example, if your loved one becomes disoriented, delirious, or unaware of their surroundings, due, for example, to opioid abuse or a mental health crisis, and arrives at a hospital emergency room for treatment, the doctors, nurses, and social workers may notify you of the patient’s location  and general condition. First, the staff will determine whether the patient agrees to share this information with you or if you are the patient’s personal representative.

If the patient is not able to make decisions (for example, due to being unconscious, sedated, severely intoxicated, or disoriented), then the doctors, nurses, and social workers may contact you without the patient’s permission when they determine that doing so is in the patient’s best interests.

To Help the Patient: HIPAA helps you to assist your loved one by permitting doctors, nurses, and social workers to share protected health information that is related to the care and assistance you are providing to your loved one. For example, if your adult son has been prescribed medication to treat anxiety, and you are helping him by providing supervision or housing, the discharge nurse may inform you what medication he will be taking, if he doesn’t object to sharing this information with you–as well as the side effects to watch for, or symptoms that indicate the medication isn’t working or isn’t being taken properly. If your son is unable to make health decisions independently, the nurse may decide to share this information with you if the nurse determines, using professional judgment, that it is in your son’s best interests.

See also Elizabeth Litten’s post following the Florida nightclub shootings in 2016:  Reflections on HIPAA Protections and Permissions in the Wake of the Orlando Tragedy

Some facilities tend to err on the side of caution when they are uncertain whether they are permitted to release information.  In addition, to the extent a state law affords greater privacy protections than those afforded under HIPAA, the state law protections will control.  However, erring on the side of caution when no HIPAA restriction applies and no other law affords greater privacy protections may actually exacerbate problems for the individual, particularly in the context of mental health.