South Carolina: Autopsy Reports Not Open Records
South Carolina: Autopsy Reports Not Open Records
In an opinion delivered on July 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of South Carolina held that autopsy reports are "medical records" within the meaning of the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, Title 30, Chapter 4 of the South Carolina Code (FOIA), and thus exempt from disclosure.
Aaron Lee Jacobs was shot and killed by police officers. Joe Perry, a newspaper reporter for The Item sent a FOIA request for Jacobs’ autopsy report to Sumter County Coroner Harvin Bullock. The request was denied on the basis of medical records being exempt from the FOIA.
Perry and Osteen Publishing Company filed a declaratory judgment action against Bullock in state court seeking an injunction requiring disclosure. Bullock filed a motion for summary judgment which the court granted. The court specifically held that autopsy reports were medical records and therefore exempt from the FOIA's disclosure requirements. The plaintiff appealed.
The South Carolina Supreme Court noted that, unlike death certificates, which it had previously ruled were not medical records, autopsy reports contain a wealth of medical information about the decedent, including information on diseases present and medications used, that other South Carolina statutes indirectly refer to autopsy reports as medical records, and that the Attorney General of South Carolina had long held them to be medical records and therefore, pursuant to Section 30-4-20(c) of the South Carolina Code, are exempt from the FOIA's disclosure requirements. The judgment of the circuit court was upheld. See: Perry v. Bullock, 409 S.C. 137 (S.C. 2014).
Related legal case
Perry v. Bullock
| Year | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 409 S.C. 137 (S.C. 2014) |
| Level | State Supreme Court |