Emma Gayle Weaver v. Stephen C. Myers, M.d., Respondents

Summary

The court held that the 2013 amendments authorizing secret, ex parte interviews with treating health care providers violate the Florida Constitution’s fundamental right to privacy and unconstitutionally condition access to courts on surrender of that right. A decedent retains privacy protections for medical information arising during life, and the personal representative of a wrongful-death estate has standing to assert those protections, including against disclosure of irrelevant information. The court severed the unconstitutional interview provisions, quashed the decision below, and remanded; Justice Canady, dissenting, would have upheld the amendments as relevance-limited and HIPAA-compliant.