Isn’t it the case that when they DID released the COLB to the public that the privacy rule NO longer apply to that particular B.C.???
If the COLB is reflective of the truth, then the information within is no longer private.
The law allows Fukino to issue a noncertified copy of the COLB, she CHOOSES not, too.
Then they complain that they get repeated requests.
If it's anything like HIPAA, the individual releasing information does not change the hospital's legal duty to keep the information private. The only way the hospital can release the information is if the patient specifically authorizes the hospital to release it. Even then, the patient has to say who the recipient is, and the hospital is authorized to release it only to that recipient. It doesn't matter if the patient wrote a best seller disclosing every detail of a hospital stay - the hospital is still bound by HIPAA law.
I've only taken a quick look at the Hawaii DOH pages, but I didn't see anything there that said once the information was made public by the person, Hawaii DOH was absolved from the law. The only way to get this released from the DOH is within the law - a court order. The only way to get this from a hospital is for 0bama to sign a release, or someone to get a court order, subpoena or discovery request.