N.Y. Public Health Law § 4165: Persons in institutions; registration

§ 4165. Persons in institutions; registration. 1. Directors,

superintendents, managers or other persons in charge of hospitals, homes

for indigents, lying-in or other institutions, public or private, to

which persons resort for treatment of diseases or confinement, or to

which persons are committed by process of law, shall make, at the time

of their admittance, a record of all the personal and statistical

particulars relative to the patients and incarcerated individuals in

their institutions, which are required in the forms of the certificate

provided for by this article as directed by the commissioner.

2. The personal particulars and information required by this section

shall be obtained from the patient or incarcerated individual, if it is

practicable to do so; and when they cannot be so obtained, they shall be

obtained in as complete a manner as possible from relatives, friends, or

other persons acquainted with the facts.

3. In the case of persons admitted or committed for treatment of

disease, the physician in charge shall specify for entry in the record,

the nature of the disease, and where, in his opinion, it was contracted.

4. The records of patients or incarcerated individuals obtained in

accordance with this section shall not be sold to any person for

promotional or profit-making purposes without the written consent of

such patient or incarcerated individual or the written consent of the

legal representative of such patient or incarcerated individual.