Civil Rights – FOIA – Autopsy Report – Medical Records Exception

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Perry v. Bullock (Lawyers Weekly No. 010-078-14, 9 pp.) (Kaye Hearn, J.) (Costa Pleicones, J., dissenting) Appealed from Sumter County Circuit Court (Clifton Newman, J.) S.C. S. Ct.

Holding: An autopsy is a thorough and invasive inquiry into the body of a decedent which reveals extensive medical information, such as the presence of any diseases or medications and any evidence of treatments received, regardless of whether that information pertained to the cause of death; therefore, an autopsy report is a medical record. Consequently, an autopsy report is not open to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

We affirm the circuit court’s finding that the autopsy report at issue is exempt from disclosure as a medical record.

A reporter submitted a FOIA request for the autopsy report of the victim of a police shooting. When the request was denied, he filed this declaratory judgment action.

“[M]edical records … and other records which by law are required to be closed to the public are not considered to be made open to the public under the provisions of [the FOIA]….” S.C. Code Ann. § 30-4-20.

The phrase “medical records” is not defined in the statute. Its ordinary meaning is records containing medical information. Autopsy reports fit neatly within this common understanding of “medical records.”

Although the objective of an autopsy is to determine the cause of death, S.C. Code Ann. § 17-5-5(1), the actual examination is comprehensive.

S.C. Code Ann. § 17-5-120 deals with making “medical records,” including autopsy reports, available to coroners from other states. The statute notes, “The release of these records to the coroner of another state is not prohibited by [the FOIA] or any other provision of law.” The reference to the FOIA as a law of exclusion indicates that the General Assembly assumed the FOIA barred dissemination of such reports.

Finally, S.C. Code § 30-4-40(a)(18) allows, but does not require, a public body to exempt from disclosure visual images and audio recordings of and related to the performance of an autopsy. Autopsy reports contain specific and detailed medical information, but separate pictures or video of the procedure, while possibly sensational or salacious, do not make specific medical conclusions regarding the decedent. Accordingly, we find this statute compliments the exclusion of autopsy reports under the FOIA. It further limits access to autopsy information by allowing public bodies to also decline to disclose related images and audio recordings. Therefore, this statute has no bearing on the disclosure of the actual autopsy report.

Affirmed.

Dissent

(Pleicones, J.) S.C. Code Ann. § 17-5-280 provides that an autopsy report “must be furnished upon request to any party to whom the cause of death is a material issue.” This statute demonstrates that autopsy records are not required by law to be closed to the public under FOIA, and it also establishes the legal standard for release of autopsy reports to the public.

Should the autopsy report contain material which is not subject to disclosure, then the coroner or medical examiner to whom the FOIA request is made may redact that information as provided by § 30-4-40(b).

I would reverse and remand.