Individuals’ medical records are sufficiently private that a search warrant is necessary to obtain them for a criminal investigation, Ohio’s local appeals court has ruled in a drunken driving case from early 2023.

The 6th District Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a Lucas County Common Pleas judge’s decision last year to exclude as evidence the results of blood tests that medical personnel performed while providing care to Anthony Russell, who is alleged to have been drunk when his car collided with another on Central Avenue near Woodlawn Cemetery on the evening of Jan. 12, 2023.

While prosecutors contended there is no expectation of privacy for records “under the circumstances of this case,” the three-judge panel said the U.S. Supreme Court and other Ohio appellate courts have found su

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