                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN PHYSICIANS AND PATIENTS (SUPREME COURT RULE 2:505 DERIVED
FROM THIS SECTION) (§ 8.01-399)

A. Except at the request or with the consent of the patient, or as provided in
this section, no duly licensed practitioner of any branch of the healing arts
shall be permitted to testify in any civil action, respecting any information
that he may have acquired in attending, examining or treating the patient in a
professional capacity.

B. If the physical or mental condition of the patient is at issue in a civil
action, the diagnoses, signs and symptoms, observations, evaluations, histories,
or treatment plan of the practitioner, obtained or formulated as
contemporaneously documented during the course of the practitioner&#8217;s
treatment, together with the facts communicated to, or otherwise learned by,
such practitioner in connection with such attendance, examination or treatment
shall be disclosed but only in discovery pursuant to the Rules of Court or
through testimony at the trial of the action. In addition, disclosure may be
ordered when a court, in the exercise of sound discretion, deems it necessary to
the proper administration of justice. However, no order shall be entered
compelling a party to sign a release for medical records from a health care
provider unless the health care provider is not located in the Commonwealth or
is a federal facility. If an order is issued pursuant to this section, it shall
be restricted to the medical records that relate to the physical or mental
conditions at issue in the case. No disclosure of diagnosis or treatment plan
facts communicated to, or otherwise learned by, such practitioner shall occur if
the court determines, upon the request of the patient, that such facts are not
relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action or do not appear
to be reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.
Only diagnosis offered to a reasonable degree of medical probability shall be
admissible at trial.

C. This section shall not (i) be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the
provisions of &#xA7; 65.2-607 relating to privileged communications between
physicians and surgeons and employees under the Workers&#8217; Compensation Act;
(ii) apply to information communicated to any such practitioner in an effort
unlawfully to procure a narcotic drug, or unlawfully to procure the
administration of any such drug; or (iii) prohibit a duly licensed practitioner
of the healing arts, or his agents, from disclosing information as required by
state or federal law.

D. Neither a lawyer nor anyone acting on the lawyer&#8217;s behalf shall obtain,
in connection with pending or threatened litigation, information concerning a
patient from a practitioner of any branch of the healing arts without the
consent of the patient, except through discovery pursuant to the Rules of
Supreme Court as herein provided. However, the prohibition of this subsection
shall not apply to:

   1. Communication between a lawyer retained to represent a practitioner of the
   healing arts, or that lawyer&#8217;s agent, and that practitioner&#8217;s
   employers, partners, agents, servants, employees, co-employees or others for
   whom, at law, the practitioner is or may be liable or who, at law, are or may
   be liable for the practitioner&#8217;s acts or omissions;

   2. Information about a patient provided to a lawyer or his agent by a
   practitioner of the healing arts employed by that lawyer to examine or
   evaluate the patient in accordance with Rule 4:10 of the Rules of Supreme
   Court; or

   3. Contact between a lawyer or his agent and a nonphysician employee or agent
   of a practitioner of healing arts for any of the following purposes: (i)
   scheduling appearances, (ii) requesting a written recitation by the
   practitioner of handwritten records obtained by the lawyer or his agent from
   the practitioner, provided the request is made in writing and, if litigation
   is pending, a copy of the request and the practitioner&#8217;s response is
   provided simultaneously to the patient or his attorney, (iii) obtaining
   information necessary to obtain service upon the practitioner in pending
   litigation, (iv) determining when records summoned will be provided by the
   practitioner or his agent, (v) determining what patient records the
   practitioner possesses in order to summons records in pending litigation, (vi)
   explaining any summons that the lawyer or his agent caused to be issued and
   served on the practitioner, (vii) verifying dates the practitioner treated the
   patient, provided that if litigation is pending the information obtained by
   the lawyer or his agent is promptly given, in writing, to the patient or his
   attorney, (viii) determining charges by the practitioner for appearance at a
   deposition or to testify before any tribunal or administrative body, or (ix)
   providing to or obtaining from the practitioner directions to a place to which
   he is or will be summoned to give testimony.

E. A clinical psychologist duly licensed under the provisions of Chapter 36
(&#xA7; 54.1-3600 et seq.) of Title 54.1 shall be considered a practitioner of a
branch of the healing arts within the meaning of this section.

F. Nothing herein shall prevent a duly licensed practitioner of the healing
arts, or his agents, from disclosing any information that he may have acquired
in attending, examining or treating a patient in a professional capacity where
such disclosure is necessary in connection with the care of the patient, the
protection or enforcement of a practitioner&#8217;s legal rights including such
rights with respect to medical malpractice actions, or the operations of a
health care facility or health maintenance organization or in order to comply
with state or federal law.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 8-289.1; 1956, c. 446; 1966, c. 673; 1977, c. 617; 1993,
c. 556; 1996, cc. 937, 980; 1998, c. 314; 2002, cc. 308, 723; 2005, cc. 649,
692; 2009, c. 714.