Private information in the public record
Q: The State of CA Medical Licensing Board has published my private medical info on their License Verification web site. Based upon the premise that under the Public Records Act, my license is a Public Document that the public is entitled to see. They claim they are required to tell the Public their justification for giving me a Probationary License.
My stand is that while the status of my license is public; the medical information they published on the Internet is a major Violation of my right to Privacy of my medical information.
A: Although we cannot opine on whether the California Medical Licensing Board has violated your right to privacy, some general information about the interplay between the Public Records Act and privacy rights may be helpful to you.
Under the California Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq. (PRA), records in the possession of public entities are presumed to be public unless one of the Act’s enumerated exceptions to disclosure applies. The right to privacy is incorporated into the exemptions to the Public Records Act (“PRA”) in at least three ways:
(1) Through Government Code section 6254(c), which exempts “personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy”
(2) Through Government Code section 6255, the so-called “catchall” exemption, which turns on whether “under the facts of the particular case,” the public interest served by not making the record public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the
record.
(3) Through the California Constitutional right to privacy, which is, in turn, incorporated into the PRA through Government Code section 6254(k), which exempts records the disclosure of which is exempted or prohibited pursuant to state or federal law.
There are numerous California cases and attorney general opinions that have construed these exemptions. In general, this authority can be summarized as follows:
1. For a privacy exemption to apply, there must be a reasonable expectation of privacy, under the circumstances, in the records/information at issue.
2. An asserted right to privacy must be balanced against the public interest in the disclosure of the information at issue, with the burden of proof on the proponent of nondisclosure.
3. Where the information at issue helps to explain the government’s conduct of its business, which weighs in favor of disclosure.
In addition, to the extent there is a state or federal law that would prohibit the disclosure of the specific medical information you are referring to, that law would also be incorporated in the Public Records Act through Government Code section 6254(k) and would likely prevent the disclosure of the information at issue.
I hope this general information is helpful to you. To the extent you are seeking specific legal advice relating to your particular situation, you may wish to find an attorney which specializes in privacy matters.