Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) A social worker shall preserve the
confidentiality of information obtained from a client in the course of
performing social work services for the client, including after the death of a
client, except in the following circumstances.
1. Disclosure is required by Federal or state
law or regulation.
2. Disclosure is
required by the Board or the Office of the Attorney General during the course
of an investigation.
3. Disclosure
is required by a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to a judge's
order.
4. The client would present
a clear and present danger to the health or safety of an individual if the
social worker fails to disclose the information.
5. The social worker is a party defendant to
a civil, criminal or disciplinary action arising from the social work services
provided, in which case a waiver of the privilege accorded by this section
shall be limited to that action.
6.
The patient or client is a defendant in a criminal proceeding and the use of
the privilege would violate the defendant's right to a compulsory process or
the right to present testimony and witnesses on that person's behalf.
7. The client agrees in writing to waive the
privilege accorded by this section. The client shall sign and date the written
waiver and the social worker shall maintain the waiver in the client's record.
In circumstances when more than one person in a family is receiving social work
services, each family member who is at least 14 years of age or older must
agree to the waiver. Absent a waiver of each family member, a social worker
shall not disclose any information received from any family member.
(b) A social worker shall
establish and maintain a procedure to protect the client record from access by
unauthorized persons.
(c) The
social worker shall establish procedures for maintaining the confidentiality of
client records in the event of the social worker's relocation, retirement or
death and shall establish reasonable procedures to assure the preservation of
client records in accordance with the time frame set forth in
13:44G-12.1(e)
in the event of the social worker's separation from a group practice.
