Case Information
*1 PD-0433-14
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS Transmitted 1/14/2015 8:14:08 AM Accepted 1/14/2015 9:45:55 AM ABEL ACOSTA CLERK Officers January 1 4 , 2015 President Emmett Harris, Uvalde President-Elect Samuel E. Bassett, Austin Hon. Abel Acosta, Clerk 1st Vice President John A. Convery, San Antonio Court of Criminal Appeals 2nd Vice President David E. Moore, Longview Treasurer Post Office Box 12308 Mark Snodgrass, Lubbock Secretary Austin, Texas 78711-2308 Kerri Anderson-Donica, Corsicana General Counsel Patricia J. Cummings, Austin Editor, Voice for the Defense
Subject: State v. Huse ; PD-0433-14 Michael Gross, San Antonio Editor, Significant Decisions Report Kathleen Nacozy Immediate Past President Dear Mr. Acosta: Bobby Mims, Tyler Executive Director
Joseph A. Martinez, Austin I am writing to the Court on behalf of the Texas Criminal Defense Directors Susan E. Anderson, Dallas Marjorie Bachman, Austin Lawyers Association (“TCDLA”), the largest state association for criminal Heather J. Barbieri, Plano
Rick Berry, Marshall Fred C. Brigman, San Angelo Clint Broden, Dallas defense attorneys in the nation. TCDLA started more than 40 years ago as Jim Darnell Sr., El Paso Nicole DeBorde, Houston
Emily Detoto, Houston a small, nonprofit association and has grown into a state-of-the-art Donald H. Flanary, San Antonio Stephen Gordon, Haltom City Deandra M. Grant, Richardson Michael C. Gross, San Antonio organization, providing assistance, support and continuing education to its
Melissa L. Hannah, Lufkin Theodore “Tip” Hargrove, San Angelo Jo Ann Jacinto, El Paso members. TCDLA represents the interests and views of criminal defense Steve A. Keathley, Corsicana Laurie L. Key, Lubbock Jeanette Kinard, Austin
Adam L. Kobs, San Antonio lawyers across the state, both in the legislature and before the courts as Michael A. McDougal, Conroe
George R. Milner lll, Dallas Angela J. Moore, San Antonio amicus curiae in important criminal and civil cases. As required by Rule David P. O’Neil, Huntsville Anthony C. Odiorne, Burnet
Stephanie K. Patten, Fort Worth Oscar O. Pena, Laredo 11, Tex.R.App.Pro., neither TCDLA nor any of the attorneys representing Bruce Ponder, El Paso
Carole J. Powell, El Paso Bennie Ray, Austin TCDLA have received any fee or other compensation for preparing this Ray Rodriguez, Laredo Sarah E. Roland, Denton John Hunter Smith, Sherman brief. Edward A. Stapleton, Brownsville Clay B. Steadman, Kerrville George Taylor, San Antonio Gary Alan Udashen, Dallas
In the above captioned case, the Court has granted review on two Oscar Vega, McAllen Coby Waddill, Denton
Jani Wood, Houston separate questions: Associate Directors Roberto Balli, Laredo
Robert Barrera, San Antonio 1. After State v. Hardy, does a citizen have standing to Curtis Barton, Huntsville Michael Head, Athens challenge the process by which his medical records Susan Kelly Johnston, Waco Bradley Lollar, Dallas are obtained? Louis Elias Lopez, El Paso Hiram McBeth, Dallas Audrey Moorehead, Dallas Simon Purnell, Corpus 2. Must the State comply with federal requirements Christi Jeremy Rosenthal, McKinney under the Health Insurance Portability and David Ryan, Houston Frank Sellers, Lubbock Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to obtain a
Monique Sparks, Houston Courtney Stamper, Waxahachie Mark Thiessen, Houston citizen's medical records, and if it fails to do so, is TCDLA founded in 1971 there any remedy? 6808 Hill Meadow Drive | Austin, TX 78736 | (512) 478-2514 p | (512) 469-9107 f | www.tcdla.com *2 Please accept this letter as a brief for TCDLA as Amicus Curiae , and advise the members of the Court that, although TCDLA takes no specific position on the second ground, it strongly believes the answer to the first ground is “yes.” We urge the Court to find that, in light of the adoption of HIPAA by the Congress of the United States, it is clear that a citizen does have standing to challenge the process by which his medical records are obtained.
TCDLA is aware that, in State v. Hardy , 963 S.W.2d 516 (Tex.Cr.App. 1997), the Court held that there is no expectation of privacy in these type of medical records (results of blood tests). Indeed, relying on Hardy (and other cases), the Court of Appeals held that there is no expectation of privacy in one’s blood-alcohol test results when the blood is obtained by hospital personnel after a traffic accident for medical purposes. Thus, the Court of Appeals wrote, “Appellee lacks standing to assert that using a grand jury subpoena to obtain his blood results constituted an unreasonable search and seizure.” State v. Huse , 07-12-00383-CR (Tex.App. - Amarillo; March 6, 2014).
In Hardy , however, Judge Price led a four judge minority in dissenting. He argued that “society does recognize one’s expectation of privacy in medical records because society’s expects a physicians to make affirmative efforts to ensure the confidentiality of the client’s records.” TCDLA agrees with Judge Price and his fellow dissenters in Hardy .
The distinction between the expectation of privacy one has in his or her body vis-a-vis the drawing of blood and the expectation of privacy one has in the results of the testing of that blood is a distinction without difference. The core question is whether society recognizes one’s expectation that his or her medical records will be kept confidential. TCDLA would suggest that *3 the passage of HIPPA by the United States Congress, the representatives of the people, has answered this question.
It must be noted that, although HIPAA is at the heart of the second issue, it was not in effect at the time of Hardy . The initial date for covered entities, such as the hospital in this case, to comply with the privacy standards of HIPPA was April 14, 2003. See 45 C.F.R. § 164.534 (2002). The initial determination to be made is whether HIPAA overruled Hardy . Appellee’s brief suggests that it has (P. 22 of 41), while the State’s brief suggests it has not (P. 20). TCDLA agrees with Appellee.
TCDLA is aware that several of the Courts of Appeals have held that HIPAA does not preempt Hardy . See, e.g., Kirsch v. State , 276 S.W.3d 579, 586-587 (Tex. App. - Houston [1st] 2008), aff’d on other grounds, Kirsch v. State , 306 S.W.3d 738 (Tex.Cr.App. 2010); [1] Murray v. State , 245 S.W.3d 37, 42 (Tex. App. - Austin 2007). Nevertheless, it is clear that HIPAA trumps Hardy , at least in a general sense.
Pursuant to HIPAA, individually identifiable medical information cannot be disclosed by covered entities without the consent of the individual unless disclosure is expressly permitted by HIPAA. See 45 C.F.R. § 164.502; U.S. v. Zamora , 408 F. Supp.2d 295 (S.D.Tex. 2006); Kennemur v. State , 280 S.W.3d 305, 312 (Tex. App. - Amarillo 2008). Disclosure is only permitted without authorization from the individual in several limited circumstances:
*4 A covered entity may use or disclose protected health information to the extent that such use or disclosure is required by law and the use or disclosure complies with and is limited to the relevant requirements of such law.
45 C.F.R. § 164.512 (emphasis added). Thus, a “covered entity” may only deliver one’s medical records when there is either consent of the entity’s patient or the entity is compelled to do so by some legal process. Accordingly, there can be no other way to interpret the limited authority of a “covered entity” to divulge medical records than to say that there is a “reasonable” expectation of privacy in one’s medical record.
TCDLA believes that a challenge to the manner in which the State obtained one’s medical records from the third party “covered entity” would be similar to the right of a passenger in an automobile to challenge the legality of the search in certain circumstances. See, Brendlin v. California , 551 U.S. 249, 251 (2007), in which the Supreme Court held that the passenger of a vehicle has standing to contest the legality of the traffic stop that results in his own detention. See also Kothe v. State , 152 S.W.3d 54, 63-64 (Tex.Cr.App. 2004), in which the Court of Criminal Appeals found that the defendant had standing under Wong Sun v. United States , 371 U.S. 471 (1963), to complain about the seizure of a controlled substance from his companion’s bra, because it was “come at by” the exploitation of an illegal detention.
Thus, the answer to the first ground on which review was granted clearly has to be that, because of the reasonable expectation of privacy demonstrated in HIPAA, a defendant does have standing to challenge the process by which his or her medical records were obtained. To *5 the extent that Hardy would suggest that there is never standing to mount such a challenge, HIPAA has preempted Hardy .
Conclusion To the extent it would be interpreted to say a defendant never has standing to challenge the manner in which his or her medical records were obtained, HIPAA has preempted Hardy . A citizen has a reasonable expectation of privacy, and has the right to expect that there will be full compliance with HIPAA before his or her medical records are turned over to the authorities by the “covered entity” with whom he or she has a professional relationship.
Respectfully submitted, Emmett Harris Patricia J. Cummings Attorney at Law and President of TCDLA Attorney at Law and General Counsel for TCDLA 625 Cenizo Blvd 6808 Hill Meadow Drive Uvalde, Texas 78801 Austin, Texas 78736 Tel. 210-422-7055 Tel. (512) 478-2514 eMail: emmettharrislaw@gmail.com eMail: pcummings@tcdla.com State Bar Card No. 09092000 Texas State Bar Card No. 05227500 Gena Blount Bunn Angela Moore Holmes & Moore, P.L.L.C. Attorney at Law 110 West Methvin Street 310 South St. Marys Street, Suite 1830 Longview, Texas 75601 San Antonio, Texas 778205
Tel. (903) 758-2200 Tel. (210) 364-0013 eMail: gbunn@holmesmoore.com eMail: amoorelaw@aol.com State Bar Card No. 00790323 State Bar Card No. 14320110 ____________________________________ David A. Schulman Attorney at Law Post Office Box 783 Austin, Texas 78767-0783 Tel. 512-474-4747 Fax: 512-532-6282 eMail: zdrdavida@davidschulman.com State Bar Card No. 17833400 Attorneys for TCDLA
*6 Certificate of Compliance and Delivery This is to certify that: (1) this document, created using WordPerfect™ X7 software, contains 1326 words, excluding those items permitted by Rule 9.4 (i)(1), Tex.R.App.Pro., and complies with Rules 9.4 (i)(2)(B) and 9.4 (i)(3), Tex.R.App.Pro.; and (2) on January 14, 2015, a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing “Brief for Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association as Amicus Curiae” was transmitted via the eService function on the State’s eFiling portal, to Jeffrey S. Ford (jford@co.lubbock.tx.us), counsel of record for the State of Texas, as well as Chuck Lanehart (chucklanehart@lubbockcriminaldefense.com) and Charles Blevin (charles@attorneyinlubbock.com), counsel of record for Appellee, Hayden Huse.
_______________________________________ David A. Schulman
NOTES
[1] Judge Price filed a dissenting opinion in Kirsch and was joined by Judge Meyers. The dissent is not relevant to the issue now before the Court.