Thursday, September 27, 2007

DWI and HIPAA




If you are doing DWI defense, you owe it to yourself and to your clients to familiarize yourself with HIPAA. Many judges don't really know what the law is about or how it applies to private health information. In criminal cases, HIPAA may protect against the admission of improperly subpoenaed hospital medical records and may also lead to the exclusion of any such evidence.

I had two DWI jury trials this year in Bexar County involving single car accidents. The hospital blood draw records were improperly subpoenaed and were erroneously admitted as evidence at trial. The judge in the first case admitted from the bench he had not even heard of HIPAA, and the judge in the most recent case was certain that HIPAA did not apply to criminal cases.

There is an excellent article about HIPAA and DWI in the September issue of the Champion Magazine that I have forwarded to several judges. Let's not forget its our job to be familiar with the laws that affect our clients and cases and also to educate the Courts where necessary.

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Regards,

Edward Garrison
Attorney at Law
5411 IH 10 W
San Antonio, TX 78201
210-733-4291
210-733-4294, FAX
http://www.garrison-law.com