issues: is the patient's right to a copy of his
        medical records extinguished with the patient's death,
        or does it devolve upon the executor?
        Does the executor have any access to the medical
        record except by subpoena, which would presumably not
        be available until a lawsuit has been filed.

        does consent to release survive death;

my comment:
        there is no common law right of privacy 
        of medical records after death. I doubt
        that there is a statutory right. Arguably
        the next of kin might sue for defamation
        on their own behalf, if medical data that
        tended to bring the family into disrepute
        were revealed.

        Mr. Rosenberg confuses the patient's consent 
        to the divulging of medical records, with
        the patient's right to demand copies of his medical
        records. The right to a copy of the medical records
        is personal to the patient; the patient, while alive
        has no right to demand that his medical records be
        delivered to a third party. If that right did not 
        exist at the time of death, it is incongruous to
        postulate that it should come into being at the time
        of death.

=========================================================
          
Douglas S. Johnson, Esq.
Dialysis Clinic, Inc.
1600 Hayes Street, Suite 300
Nashville, Tenn 37203

Dear Doug,

Enclosed is a copy of a letter, dated November 8, 1996,
from Jeffrey A. Rosenberg, the attorney who purports
to represent a former patient at DCI Boston, Serena Christmas.
The letter states that a copy has been forwarded to you by
the author.

I am reliably informed that Serena Christmas died
in Rochester, NY, on or about October 21, 1996. To the best
of my knowledge, Massachusetts law makes no provision for
an attorney to represent the dead, nor, to the best of my
knowledge, does the "authorization for release of documentation"
of a patient retain its force subsequent to the patient's
death. Mr. Rosenberg does not identify the executor, if any, of
Mrs. Christmas's estate.

I enclose two otherwise identical photocopies of the aforementioned
authorization, one of which was allegedly signed on June 28, 1996. 
The other bears a different, almost illegible date, and, if I
read it correctly, was purportedly signed post-mortem, on November 8,
1996. I infer that at least one of the authorizations must be a
forgery, and most likely, both of them are.

Mr. Rosenberg also makes inquiries of me independent of the Dialysis
Unit records, requests to which I consider myself under no obligation
to reply. Inasmuch as potential liability of both Dialysis Clinic, Inc.
and of New England Medical Center is limited by statutory charitable
immunity, it is employees of these institutions who are most likely
to become defendants in the event of a lawsuit.

The specifics of Mr. Rosenberg's inquiry lead me to infer that
he has only the foggiest notion of the circumstances of Mrs.
Christmas's illness, and that his investigation is seriously
handicapped by the fact that with Mrs. Christmas's death, he has
lost his most valuable informant. While I am determined to fulfill
all my legal duties to Mr. Rosenberg, I have no interest in
volunteering information to help him devise legal claims against
DCI, against my colleagues, or against myself.

Under these circumstances, given the irregularities of the
representation claimed by Mr. Rosenberg, and the impropriety,
to put it mildly, of the "authorization" proffered by him,
I believe neither Dialysis Clinics, Inc. nor myself to be
under any legal obligation to comply with Mr. Rosenberg's
instructions.  I intend therefore, subject to your approval,
to ignore Mr. Rosenberg's inquiry and to make to it no reply
whatsoever.

Please advise me if you disagree.

                                     Sincerely,


                                     Klemens B. Meyer, M.D.