2000 Minnesota Statutes

     246.13 Record of patients and residents; department of 
  human services. 

    The commissioner of human services' office shall have, 
 accessible only by consent of the commissioner or on the order 
 of a judge or court of record, a record showing the residence, 
 sex, age, nativity, occupation, civil condition, and date of 
 entrance or commitment of every person, in the state hospitals 
 under exclusive control of the commissioner, the date of 
 discharge and whether such discharge was final, the condition of 
 such person when the person left the state hospital, and the 
 date and cause of all deaths.  The record shall state every 
 transfer from one state hospital to another, naming each.  This 
 information shall be furnished to the commissioner of human 
 services by each public and private agency, with such other 
 obtainable facts as the commissioner may from time to time 
 require.  The chief executive officer of each such state 
 hospital, within ten days after the commitment or entrance 
 thereto of a patient or resident, shall cause a true copy of an 
 entrance record to be forwarded to the commissioner of human 
 services.  When a patient or resident leaves, is discharged or 
 transferred, or dies in any state hospital, the chief executive 
 officer, or other person in charge shall inform the commissioner 
 of human services within ten days thereafter on forms furnished 
 by the commissioner.  

    The commissioner of human services may authorize the chief 
 executive officer of any state hospital for persons with mental 
 illness or mental retardation, to release to public or private 
 medical personnel, hospitals, clinics, local social services 
 agencies or other specifically designated interested persons or 
 agencies any information regarding any patient or resident 
 thereat, if, in the opinion of the commissioner, it will be for 
 the benefit of the patient or resident.  

    HIST: (4437) RL s 1889; 1957 c 319 s 1; 1961 c 750 s 13 subd 
 1; 1983 c 10 s 1; 1984 c 654 art 5 s 58; 1985 c 21 s 10; 1986 c 
 444; 1994 c 631 s 31