Hospitals, HIPAA, and Impaired Driving Cases

This guide provides the basic, general legal principles behind HIPAA, as well as the specific provisions relating to criminal law, and the exceptions it provides for law enforcement and prosecutors conducting investigations into criminal matters such as impaired driving cases. This guide also provides helpful suggestions for law enforcement and prosecutors to develop cooperative relationships with hospital personnel to positively impact investigations while minimizing the need for hospital personnel to testify in court, including ideas on how to address out-of-state search warrants for hospitals and how to sidestep a hospital blood draw with a law enforcement phlebotomy program.