How Do I Get Medical Records of a Deceased Relative?

Full question:

I am in a quandary, I have filed a compliant in Orange County, Ca over the administering of my parents trust,by my brothers who were co-trustees. I have not received an accounting on the trust nor my potion of the real property I was to be beneficiary through a quitclaim deed as tenets in common with my brother. We are currently trying do a petition to partition and an accounting through a legal action. What I want to see is my mom's medical records, she been gone since Sept. of 2008. My brother is on the death certificate so the hospital will not release the records to me. My brother is belatedly claiming he provided my Mom with 500,000 dollars of care while he was living on her property (they were not living in the same house I have no doubt he did watch over her, but it is an assumption it was that much money. How can I get access to her medical records? I do not want to push forward with the suit without knowing all the conditions. I have been to mediation in Orange Co. The Mediator ended it, because of my brothers lack of will to resolve it by settling it reasonably. My wife and I are a humble people and have already paid out aprox. 6,000 dollars in cost. I thought trusts were suppose to be fairly clear on what happens I hope you can advise me. Thank You

• Category: Medical Records
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Oregon

Answer:

Generally, if an estate is open, then the person named as executor or administrator is the only one who can authorize the release of medical records. If an estate is not open (no executor or administrator is named), then the legal heirs (usually defined as the spouse and children of the patient) may authorize the release of records. HIPAA leaves it up to states to determine who qualifies as a deceased patient’s personal representative-the person who has legal rights to access another’s medical record. This is clear cut when a patient has signed a HIPAA release or named an executor to his or her estate. But when a patient dies without doing either, HIPAA defaults to state law to determine the hierarchy of rights to that person’s estate and health records.

The privacy rule states that people have the same privacy rights in death as they do in life. But it also requires that healthcare facilities must release medical records to those people either appointed by the patient or who are deemed a personal representative by state law.

Each medical facility has slightly different regulations about the paperwork required for obtaining a relative's medical records. It is best to contact the medical facility before submitting a request.
If you don't qualify under the hospital's policy for releasing records, you would need to file a petition in the state court and then subpoena the documents.

Please see also:

http://www.harp.org/og/inforite.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_5113788_obtain-medical-records-deceased-relative.html
http://www.medbd.ca.gov/consumer/access_records.html
http://medicalrecordrights.georgetown.edu/stateguides/ca/caguide2.html
http://journal.ahima.org/2009/08/04/rights-to-deceased-patient-records/