§ 3-08 Privacy and Confidentiality.
RCNY § 3-08
(a)Policy. The Health Authority shall establish and implement written policies and procedures which recognize the rights of people in custody to private and confidential treatment and consultations consistent with legal requirements, professional standards, and sound professional judgment and practice.
(b)Privacy.
(1)All consultations and evaluations between people in custody and health care personnel will be confidential and private.
(i)Correctional personnel may be present during the delivery of health services when health care and correctional personnel determine that such action is necessary for the safety and/or security of any person.
(ii)Correctional personnel shall remain sufficiently distant from the place of health care encounters so that quiet conversations between people in custody and health care personnel cannot be overheard. Every effort shall be made to maintain aural and, where possible, visual privacy during encounters between health care personnel and people in custody.
(2)The Health Authority shall not conduct body cavity searches or strip searches.
(c)Confidentiality.
(3)Subject to applicable State and Federal law, health care personnel may report a person in custody's health information to correctional authorities without the written consent of the person in custody only when such information is necessary to provide appropriate health services to the person or to protect the health and safety of the person or others. Disclosures made under this section shall not include: (i) The entire health record; (ii) Specific diagnoses, with the following exceptions: (A) specific diagnoses of injuries sustained by people while in custody may be shared with appropriate correctional personnel for the limited purposes of investigating and identifying trends related to injuries; (B) When an exposure to a specific communicable disease other than a common sexually transmitted infection has occurred in a facility, the Health Authority may disclose an individual's communicable disease diagnosis to appropriate correctional personnel for the limited purpose of contact tracing, and only when disclosing the identity of the individual is absolutely necessary to protect the health and safety of potentially exposed persons. In all other cases involving persons in custody with communicable diseases, the correctional personnel shall be instructed by health care personnel on proper precautions needed to protect correctional personnel and others without being told disease-specific diagnoses for individuals. Disclosures of individuals' communicable disease diagnoses made pursuant to this provision shall be reported to the Board in writing within 24 hours.
(4)Correctional personnel shall keep confidential any health-related information or records of a person in custody that the officer receives from health care personnel. Information received by correctional personnel pursuant to 40 RCNY § 3-08(c)(3)(ii) shall not be re-disclosed to anyone, including other correctional personnel.
(5)When a person in custody communicates health-related information to correctional personnel to obtain access to health services or treatment of a health condition, correctional personnel shall keep such information confidential. People in custody need not disclose their specific medical complaints to correction personnel to obtain medical assistance.
(6)To assure continuity of care and avoid unnecessary duplication of tests and examinations, a person in custody's health information shall be made available to health care personnel when that person is transferred to another correctional or health care facility.
(iii)When a person in custody is transferred to another correctional system, a record summary defined by the receiving and sending systems shall accompany the person.
(iv)Complete health record information shall be transferred to specific and designated physicians outside the jurisdiction of the Department of Correction upon the request and written authorization of the person in custody for the release of such information. The release form must specify the information to be transferred.
(d)Experimentation.
