Administrative – Advocates for Disabled Persons – Home Inspections – Medication Administration Records

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Protection & Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc. v. Buscemi (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-051-16, 10 pp.) (Thomas Huff, Acting Chief Judge) Appealed from Richland County Circuit Court (Edgar Dickson, J.) S.C. App.

Holding: A review of S.C. Code Ann. §§ 43-33-310 to -400 (the statutes giving certain powers and duties to the plaintiff-nonprofit, which is designated as South Carolina’s protection and advocacy system for people with disabilities) indicates that, while the General Assembly gave plaintiff the right to examine the individual medical records – including medication administration records (MARs) – of individuals on whose behalf a complaint had been made, the Legislature did not give plaintiff the right to inspect MARs during unannounced inspections of Community Training Home facilities.

We affirm the trial court’s denial of plaintiff’s requested declaratory judgment.

Plaintiff’s inspection rights include reviewing “plans of care” for individuals in a residential care facility. “Plans of care” is not defined in the statutes.

S.C. Code Ann. § 43-33-370 explicitly limits plaintiff’s examination of “individual medical, treatment or other personal records” to those of a resident upon whose behalf a proper complaint requesting investigation has been received. We are unpersuaded by plaintiff’s assertion that its authority under the inspection provision is distinct from its authority to investigate complaints such that limitations on its authority to examine medical records under § 43-33-370(2) should not apply to its authority to review plans of care under § 44-33-350(4). To accept this proposition would render the limitation of inspection of such records in § 44-33-370(2) meaningless and would lead to an absurd result, as plaintiff could simply announce during an investigation of a complaint pursuant to § 44-33-370 that it was making an unannounced inspection pursuant to § 44-33-350(4), thereby entitling it to review the individual medical records of non-complaining residents – which is explicitly prohibited by § 43-33-370.

We find the legislative intent clear that medical records – including MARs – are to be excluded from review during unannounced team advocacy inspections. These residents – like other citizens – are entitled to a level of privacy in regard to their medical records, and the General Assembly has not deemed it appropriate to make the medical records of the residents in question available for review by plaintiff during its unannounced inspections.

Affirmed.