March 14, 2012

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

PO Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-2977

OR2012-03780

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# 452111.

The City of Corpus Christi (the "city") received a request for a specified incident report. You state some information is being released to the requestor. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the claimed exception and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This exception encompasses information made confidential by other statutes, such as section 773.091 of the Health and Safety Code, which provides in relevant part:

(a) A communication between certified emergency medical services personnel or a physician providing medical supervision and a patient that is made in the course of providing emergency medical services to the patient is confidential and privileged and may not be disclosed except as provided by this chapter.

(b) 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.

. . .

(g) The privilege of confidentiality under this section 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.

Health & Safety Code § 773.091(a)-(b), (g). Except for the information specified in section 773.091(g), emergency medical services ("EMS") records are deemed confidential under section 773.091 and may only be released in accordance with chapter 773 of the Health and Safety Code. See id. §§ 773.091-.094. You state the submitted information is records that reflect the treatment of a patient by EMS personnel. Upon review, we agree the submitted information constitutes EMS records that are subject to chapter 773 of the Health and Safety Code. We note, however, records that are confidential under section 773.091 may be disclosed to "any person who bears a written consent of the patient or other persons authorized to act on the patient's behalf for the release of confidential information." Id. §§ 773.092(e)(4), .093. Section 773.093 provides a consent for release of EMS records must specify (1) the information or records to be covered by the release; (2) the reasons or purpose for the release; and (3) the person to whom the information is to be released. You do not inform us the requestor has provided the department with any information indicating that an exception under section 773.092 would apply. See id. § 773.092. Accordingly, with the exception of information subject to section 773.091(g), which must be released, the city must withhold the submitted information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 773.091(b) of the Health and Safety Code, unless the city receives written consent as specified by sections 773.092 and 773.093.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Misty Haberer Barham

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

MHB/som

Ref: ID# 452111

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
An Equal Employment Opportunity Employer