March 25, 2008

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277

OR2008-03836

Dear Mr. Bounds:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 305464.

The City of Corpus Christi (the "city") received a request for ambulance records of two specified individuals. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Access to emergency medical service ("EMS") records is governed by the provisions of the Emergency Medical Services Act, Health and Safety Code sections 773.091 through 773.173. See Open Records Decision No. 598 (1991). Section 773.091(b) provides as follows:

Records of the identity, evaluation, or treatment of a patient by emergency medical services personnel or by a physician providing medical supervision that are created by the emergency medical services personnel or physician or maintained by an emergency medical services provider are confidential and privileged and may not be disclosed except as provided by this chapter.

Health & Safety Code § 773.091(b). This confidentiality provision "does not extend to information regarding the presence, nature of injury or illness, age, sex, occupation, and city of residence of a patient who is receiving emergency medical services." Id. § 773.091(g). The records at issue reflect that they concern an individual who was deceased upon the arrival of emergency medical service personnel and received no medical treatment. The term "patient" is not defined for purposes of section 773.091 of the Health and Safety Code. When a word used in a statute is not defined and that word is "connected with and used with reference to a particular trade or subject matter or is used as a word of art, the word shall have the meaning given by experts in the particular trade, subject matter, or art." Gov't Code § 312.002; see also Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Garrison Contractors, Inc., 966 S.W.2d 482, 485 (Tex. 1998). Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary defines "patient" as "one who is sick with, or being treated for, an illness or injury; [or] . . . an individual receiving medical care." Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary 1446 (17th ed. 1989). We also note that other statutes dealing with medically related professions generally define patient as an individual who consults a health care professional. See Health & Safety Code § 611.001 (mental health records), Occ. Code §§ 159.001 (physician records), 201.401 (chiropractic records), 202.401 (podiatric records), 258.101 (dental records). Because the generally accepted medical definition of patient indicates that the term refers to a living individual, we find that it does not encompass the records at issue here. Thus, no portion of the submitted information may be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code on the basis of section 773.091(b) of the Health and Safety Code. As you raise no further exceptions against disclosure of the submitted information, it must be released.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must file suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such a challenge, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a).

If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, upon receiving this ruling, the governmental body will either release the public records promptly pursuant to section 552.221(a) of the Government Code or file a lawsuit challenging this ruling pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code. If the governmental body fails to do one of these things, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e).

If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can challenge that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Dep't of Pub. Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408, 411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ).

Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/jh

Ref: ID# 305464

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Ms. Theresa Hart

Vioxx Litigation Consortium

P.O. Box 56708

Houston, Texas 77256-6708

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. You indicate that the city does not maintain records for one of the named individuals. A governmental body does not have to release records that were not in existence at the time of the request. See Econ. Opportunities Dev. Corp. v. Bustamante, 562 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. Civ. App.-- San Antonio 1978, writ dism'd); Open Records Decision No. 452 at 3 (1986).

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