COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS - Boston …



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

SUFFOLK [OR THE SUPERIOR COURT

COUNTY WHERE DEFENDANT LIVES], ss C.A. No. __________

____________________________________________

)

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, BY )

AND THROUGH _________________________, )

COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC HEALTH, and )

)

BOARD OF HEALTH OF THE CITY )

OR TOWN OF [ _______________________] )

)

Plaintiffs )

)

v. )

)

_____________________________ )

NAME OF INDIVIDUAL )

WHOSE ISOLATION IS SOUGHT )

Defendant (Patient) )

)

EX PARTE MOTION TO IMPOUND CASE FILE CONTAINING

PERSONAL MEDICAL INFORMATION OR RECORDS, WITH

INTEGRATED MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT

Now come the Plaintiffs pursuant to Rules 1, 2, 3, and 8, of Trial Court Rule VIII, Uniform Rules on Impoundment Procedure, and, ex parte, move this Honorable Court to impound this case file.

As grounds therefore, the Plaintiffs say that this motion is to impound a case file of a civil action which contains a Complaint, Request for a Temporary Restraining Order, and Application for a Preliminary Injunction, which are supported by an affidavit, to remove to a hospital a person with a communicable disease, and that the complaint and other documents refer to and contain personal medical information or medical records concerning the Patient.

Personal medical information and medical records are protected by federal and state laws from public disclosure. See, e.g., 45 CFR §§ 160, 164; Mass. Gen. L. c. 4, § 7, cl. 26(c); Mass. Gen. L. c. 66A; 105 CMR 300.120; Mass. Gen. L. c. 111, § 70E. To support its Complaint, Request for a Temporary Restraining Order, and Application for a Preliminary Injunction, the Plaintiffs have filed, pursuant to Mass. R. Civ. P. Rule 65, an Affidavit of Physician or Other Health Care Provider. These documents contain personal medical information and/or medical records. The Department of Public Health, physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers treat personal medical information and medical records as confidential, but, once the court receives the medical information and medical records, they become public documents, Globe Newspaper v. District Attorney, 439 Mass. 374, 383-84 (2003), unless an order of impoundment keeps them out of the public view. E.g., Boston Herald v. Sharpe, 432 Mass. 593 (2000).

Most of the pleadings in this case file will likely contain medical information about __________. In order to protect ________’s interests and to govern the release of documents in the court’s case file, the Department of Public Health requests that the court enter an order impounding the case file pursuant to Rule 8, and to restrict access in accordance with Rule 9, Trial Court Rule VIII, except that signed orders in this case may be provided to physicians, health care providers, and public health and safety authorities involved in the removal to and treatment at the hospital where __________ will be isolated.

A copy of a proposed order is attached.

Respectfully submitted,

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

________________________________________

[NAME OF COMMISSIONER]

COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC HEALTH

_______________________________

[NAME OF ATTORNEY GENERAL]

ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: ______________________________________

[NAME OF DPH ATTORNEY]

Special Assistant Attorney General

[SIGNATURE BLOCK FOR DPH ATTY/SAAG]

[NAME OF CITY OR TOWN]

By: ______________________________________

[NAME OF CITY OR TOWN COUNSEL]

________________________________________

[SIGNATURE BLOCK FOR CITY OR TOWN COUNSEL]

A COPY OF THIS MOTION MUST BE SERVED UPON THE PERSON TO BE CONFINED AND HIS/HER ATTORNEY.

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