When a reporter contacted the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services this month seeking information about a patient's death, officials refused to release basic information, including the patient's name, his age and date of death.
Renee McCoy, spokeswoman for the department, cited a federal patient privacy law that she said forbade the department from releasing the information, despite a state law Gov. Bev Perdue signed last year that requires public disclosure of deaths.
McCoy said the federal law regarding substance-abuse treatment centers supersedes the state law, which the legislature approved following stories in The News & Observer about more than 90 questionable deaths during the last decade in state mental hospitals as well as other DHHS institutions.
Even a report from federal investigators, which omitted Harbin's name and was written to adhere to federal privacy laws, would require additional redaction under the state's more stringent interpretation of the federal law, McCoy said.
Unredacted copies of the report and Harbin's medical file were released Monday after his mother signed a waiver allowing the state to disclose the records.
Chrissy Pearson, a Perdue spokeswoman, said the state's hands were tied.
"Governor Perdue would welcome the federal government joining her in her push to make more information available to the public," Pearson explained in an e-mail message.
"In this case, DHHS seemed to have no choice but to defer to the family, who ultimately agreed to release the records. The governor continues to support making death records more transparent to the news media and citizens."
