Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Gardiner sided with a clinical psychologist who wanted to withhold a patient’s mental health records. As Virginia Lawyers Weekly reports, SmolenPlevy represented the clinical psychologist, Dr. Jeffrey A. Schulman, in the matter. The records were sought by a father involved in a long-running child-custody case, who served the psychologist with a subpoena duces tecum to get information pertaining to his teenage son.
Dr. Schulman felt disclosure of the records would be reasonably likely to cause substantial harm to the teenager or his sisters. He, therefore, advised by SmolenPlevy Principal Joshua Isaacs, asked the court to quash the father’s subpoena for the records. The father had declined to
cooperate with the statutorily required procedures for review by an independent clinical psychologist to determine if the records should be released.
Can medical records be subpoenaed for child custody cases?
After hearing argument, Judge Gardiner issued a 10-page letter opinion granting the motion to quash. According to Isaacs, the main issue revolved around the requirement for the health provider to allow a second clinical psychologist of equivalent credentials to review the files and issue a second opinion as to whether the records should be released. In this case, the Court found Dr. Schulman indeed did what Virginia law required of him.
Judge Gardiner’s ruling was a helpful addition to and clarification of the Virginia jurisprudence guiding medical professionals in the Commonwealth when they face a subpoena demanding their patient’s health records. Read the full article here.
When to speak with an attorney
For more information or questions regarding divorce and family law, contact Joshua Isaacs at jbisaacs@smolenplevy.com, Alan Plevy at abplevy@smolenplevy.com, or Kyung (Kathryn) Dickerson at kndickerson@smolenplevy.com.
