Office of Information Practices

Opinion Letter No. 93-14
September 21, 1993
Identity of Persons With Infectious Disease Confidential

The Department of Health (DOH) may not disclose to the Honolulu Police Department, without a court order, the identity of a person having an infectious or communicable disease, for a criminal investigation of an alleged sexual assault. Section 325-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, prohibits the DOH from disclosing, in individually identifiable form, reports filed with the DOH by health care providers concerning persons with infectious or communicable diseases. Because the identity of persons having an infectious or communicable disease is made confidential by statute, the OIP found that section 92F-19(a)(3), Hawaii Revised Statutes, would not permit the DOH to disclose the information to law enforcement authorities.

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