2020 Georgia Code
Title 31 - Health
Chapter 8 - Care and Protection of Indigent and Elderly Patients
Article 4 - Reporting Abuse or Exploitation of Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities
§ 31-8-86. Confidentiality
The identities of the resident, the alleged perpetrator, and persons making a report or providing information or evidence shall not be disclosed to the public unless required to be revealed in court proceedings or upon the written consent of the person whose identity is to be revealed or as otherwise required by law. Upon the resident's or his or her representative's request, the department shall make information obtained in an abuse report or complaint and an investigation available to an allegedly abused or exploited resident or his or her representative for inspection or duplication, except that such disclosure shall be made without revealing the identity of any other resident, the person making the report, or persons providing information by name or inference. For the purpose of this Code section, the term "representative" shall include any person authorized in writing by the resident or appointed by an appropriate court to act upon the resident's behalf. The term "representative" also shall include a family member of a deceased or physically or mentally impaired resident unable to grant authorization; provided, however, that such family members who do not have written or court authorization shall not be authorized by this Code section to receive the resident's health records as defined in Code Section 31-33-1. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to deny agencies participating in joint investigations at the request of and with the department, or conducting separate investigations of abuse or exploitation within an agency's scope of authority, or law enforcement personnel who are conducting an investigation into any criminal offense in which a resident is a victim from having access to such records.
(Code 1933, § 88-1908c, enacted by Ga. L. 1980, p. 1261, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1601, § 2; Ga. L. 2013, p. 524, § 1-13/HB 78.)
Law reviews.- For note on 1991 amendment of this Code section, see 8 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 74 (1992).
