Fagen v. Grand View Univ.
Annotate this CasePlaintiff brought a tort action against, among other defendants, a fellow university student (Defendant), claiming monetary damages for his injury. Plaintiff’s damage claim included damages for mental pain and mental disability. Defendant requested Plaintiff to provide him with a release, waiving Plaintiff’s privilege to his mental health records and allowing the student to access the mental health records pertaining to Plaintiff’s treatment for anger management while he was in elementary school. Plaintiff refused. The district court ordered Plaintiff to sign an unrestricted patient’s waiver for records, concluding that Plaintiff waived his privilege to his mental health records by putting his mental well-being at issue in this case and that Defendant’s request did not violate Plaintiff’s constitutional right to privacy. The Supreme Court reversed on interlocutory review upon adopting a protocol balancing a patient’s right to privacy in his or her mental health records against a tortfeasor’s right to present evidence relevant to the injured party’s damage claims. Remanded to the district court to allow the parties to present the appropriate evidence called for by this protocol and to apply the protocol before deciding if Defendant should sign a patient’s waiver.
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