Accepted Answer

You did not supply that information, which would have been helpful.

Under the current case and statutory law in every State, the duty to inform only arises when a specific person is named. Some State require the duty to inform when there are NO details, but a specific person is named (such as CA), others like Illinois require some details about the when and how. (See link above).

So when you say NO details, do you mean that a specific individual is named?

As for whether the products of your research are subject to the court's subpoena power, yes, I would say that they are. Even if you were a full blown licensed psychiatrist, the work product would be subject to subpoena. You could then raise the confidentiality shield, if it is available to an unlicensed student.

As for HIPAA, your records are subject to HIPAA protection if it involves you reviewing the subject's medical records, or you creating a new medical record. To do any of this, teh subject has to be identifiable, so you are not going to be creating any private health information, so no HIPAA. Read about it in a round about way here: http://irb.ucsd.edu/hipaa_faq.shtml#IsSubject

So the ultimate issue is whether a student can raise the confidentiality shield. There is a line of case law that says study participants are given confidentialty, as if it were treatment records. So the study aspect is a non-issue. As to the student question, I will have to research it and get back to you, because I don't have the answer yet.       

Expert:	JPEsq
Pos. Feedback:	99.4 %
Accepts:	1329
Answered:	8/26/2009

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Experience as general attorney, in house counsel, SSDI, Family Law attorney, and law professor