Unfortunately, if the doctor refuses, the attorney does have an option, since under HIPAA an exception to a doctor releasing information without a signed release is that the attorney can obtain a subpoena to the doctor for the information and call him to testify in court. A doctor can disclose information without a HIPAA release pursuant to a lawful subpoena and in a court. Thus, if the doctor will not provide a letter the attorney would have to subpoena the records from the doctor and subpoena the doctor to testify about your son's condition. It could be that the attorney does not want to add this cost to you or does not want to fight this in court which is why he is telling you that he needs to letter to proceed.

I would suggest sitting with another attorney, one who specializes in "elder law" because they are most familiar with these types of guardianship cases and how to obtain the information you need.

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