Court requires release of all Ohio patient’s medical records

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court says a health care provider can’t limit the release of medical records based solely on where the provider stores the information.

The court ruled 5-2 today that providers must release all medical records generated in the process of a patient’s treatment that pertain to medical history, diagnosis, prognosis or condition.

The court sided with a woman who sued after a Canton hospital declined to provide the complete medical record of her father after his death after surgery.

At issue were cardiac-monitoring strips that were printed after the fact at the direction of the hospital’s risk-management department.

Justice Sharon Kennedy said the physical location of data isn’t relevant to the question of whether it’s a medical record.