Biddle v. Warren General Hospital

86 Ohio St. 3d 395
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 1999
DocketNo. 98-952
StatusPublished
Cited by93 cases

This text of 86 Ohio St. 3d 395 (Biddle v. Warren General Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Biddle v. Warren General Hospital, 86 Ohio St. 3d 395 (Ohio 1999).

Opinions

Ajlice Robie Resnick, J.

Aside from the procedural and evidentiary questions, these appeals present five general issues for our determination. The first issue is whether a physician or hospital can be held liable for the unauthorized, out-of-court disclosure of confidential information obtained in the course of the physician-patient relationship.

This issue is easily resolved. “In Ohio, a physician can be held liable for unauthorized disclosures of medical information. See Hammonds v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. (N.D.Ohio 1965), 243 F.Supp. 793 [7 Ohio Misc. 25, 34 O.O.2d 138]; Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Jackson (1967), 10 Ohio App.2d 137, 39 O.O.2d 242, 226 N.E.2d 760; Prince v. St. Francis-St. George Hospitals, Inc. (1985), 20 Ohio App.3d 4, 20 OBR 4, 484 N.E.2d 265; Levias v. United Airlines (1985), 27 Ohio App.3d 222, 27 OBR 262, 500 N.E.2d 370; see, also, R.C. 4731.22(B)(4) (Willfully betraying a professional confidence’ is a ground for physician discipline.); see, generally, Johnston, Breach of Medical Confidence in Ohio (1986), 19 Akron L.Rev. 373.” Littleton v. Good Samaritan Hosp. & Health Ctr. (1988), 39 Ohio St.3d 86, 98, 529 N.E.2d 449, 459, fn. 19.

However, Littleton does not specify the basis or legal theory under which a physician can be held liable for unauthorized disclosures of medical information. As one legal writer has observed:

“Faced with situations involving a disclosure of personal information in breach of confidence, some courts have explicitly recognized a breach of confidence tort. Most courts, however, have resorted to a confused tangle of legal theories, including invasion of privacy, implied term of contract, implied private cause of action in statute, and tortious breach of confidence, to make out a cause of action in such situations.” Vickery, Breach of Confidence: An Emerging Tort (1982), 82 Colum.L.Rev. 1426, 1437.

The second issue, therefore, is whether this court should recognize an independent common-law tort of breach of confidence in the physician-patient setting. Since appellants raise no serious argument against the recognition of such an action, this issue need not detain us long either.

Over eighty years ago, the Supreme Court of Washington stated:

[400]*400“We shall not go into the question, suggested in respondents’ brief, that the action is improperly designated as one for slander. If the facts set forth in the complaint entitle appellant to relief, it is wholly immaterial by what name the action is called. Neither is it necessary to pursue at length the inquiry of whether a cause of action lies in favor of a patient against a physician for wrongfully divulging confidential communications. For the purposes of what we shall say it will be assumed that, for so palpable a wrong, the law provides a remedy.” Smith v. Driscoll (1917), 94 Wash. 441, 442, 162 P. 572, 572.

Since then, courts in Ohio and elsewhere have faced common metamorphic disturbances in attempting to provide a legal identity for an actionable breach of patient confidentiality. In their efforts to devise a civil remedy “for so palpable a wrong,” many of these courts have endeavored to fit a breach of confidence into a number of traditional or accepted legal theories. In much the same way as trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, courts have utilized theories of invasion of privacy, defamation, implied breach of contract, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, implied private statutory cause of action, breach of trust, detrimental reliance, negligence, and medical malpractice. Invariably, these theories prove ill-suited for the purpose, and their application contrived, as they are designed to protect diverse interests that only coincidentally overlap that of preserving patient confidentiality. These courts, therefore, often find themselves forced to stretch the traditional theories beyond their reasonable bounds, or ignore or circumvent otherwise sound doctrinal limitations, in order to achieve justice within the parameters they have set for themselves. In so doing, they rely on various sources of public policy favoring the confidentiality of communications between a physician and a patient, including state licensing or testimonial privilege statutes, or the Principles of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association (1957), Section 9, or the Oath of Hippocrates. Some note that while public policy considerations are a sound enough basis to support liability, a more appropriate basis can be found in the nature of the physician-patient relationship itself, either because of its fiduciary character or because it is customarily understood to carry an obligation of secrecy and confidence. Slowly and unevenly, through various gradations of evolution, courts have moved toward the inevitable realization that an action for breach of confidence should stand in its own right, and increasingly courts have begun to adopt it as an independent tort in their respective jurisdictions. Hobbs v. Lopez (1994), 96 Ohio App.3d 670, 645 N.E.2d 1261; Howes v. United States (C.A.6, 1989), 887 F.2d 729 (applying Ohio law); Neal v. Coming Glass Works Corp. (S.D.Ohio 1989), 745 F.Supp. 1294 (applying Ohio law); Levias, supra, 27 Ohio App.3d 222, 27 OBR 262, 500 N.E.2d 370; Prince, supra, 20 Ohio App.3d 4, 20 OBR 4, 484 N.E.2d 265; Knecht v. Vandalia Med. Ctr., Inc. (1984), 14 Ohio App.3d 129, 14 OBR 145, 470 N.E.2d 230; Hammonds, supra, 243 F.Supp. 793, 7 [401]*401Ohio Misc. 25, 34 O.O.2d 138 (interpreting Ohio law); Lujan v. Mansmann (E.D.Pa.1997), 956 F.Snpp. 1218, 1229-1230; Bullion v. Gadaleto (W.D.Va.1995), 872 F.Supp. 303; Morris v. Consolidation Coal Co. (1994), 191 W.Va. 426, 446 S.E.2d 648; Mrozinski v. Pogue (1992), 205 Ga.App. 731, 423 S.E.2d 405; Saur v. Probes (1991), 190 Mich.App. 636, 476 N.W.2d 496; Tighe v. Ginsberg (1989), 146 A.D.2d 268, 540 N.Y.S.2d 99; Crocker v. Synpol, Inc. (Tex.App.1987), 732 S.W.2d 429; Stempler v. Speidell (1985), 100 N.J. 368, 374-377, 495 A.2d 857, 860-861; Alberts v. Devine (1985), 395 Mass. 59, 479 N.E.2d 113; Vassiliades v. Garfinckel’s (D.C.App.1985), 492 A.2d 580; Humphers v. First Interstate Bank of Oregon (1985), 298 Ore. 706, 696 P.2d 527; MacDonald v. Clinger (1982), 84 A.D.2d 482, 446 N.Y.S.2d 801; Doe v. Roe (1977), 93 Misc.2d 201, 400 N.Y.S.2d 668; Home v. Patton (1973), 291 Ala. 701, 287 So.2d 824; Hague v. Williams (1962), 37 N.J. 328, 181 A.2d 345; Alexander v. Knight (1962), 197 Pa.Super. 79, 177 A.2d 142; Clark v. Geraci (1960), 29 Misc.2d 791, 208 N.Y.S.2d 564; Berry v. Moench

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Bluebook (online)
86 Ohio St. 3d 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/biddle-v-warren-general-hospital-ohio-1999.