Jon C. Little v. Department of Correction - MCI Norfolk (SPR 20170199)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords February 22, 2017 SPR17/199 Stephanie Byron Department of Correction - MCI Norfolk Health Administrator MPCH Correctional Healthcare 2 Clark Street Norfolk, MA 02056 Dear Custodian: I have received the petition of Jon Little appealing the response of MPCH Correctional Healthcare at MCI-Norfolk (MPCH) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § IOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Mr. Little requested three (3) separate categories of medical records. In a response dated December 20, 2016 a staff member from the Medical Records Department provided Mr. Little with a fee estimate for provision of certain records, and notified him that other requested records were in the custody of the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital (Hospital), and a request would have to be sent to the Hospital for those records. Mr. Little paid the quoted fee on December 26, 2016 and subsequently appealed the estimate to this office. Purpose of request In his petition, it appears that Mr. Little is requesting access to his own medical records. Please note that the reason for which a requestor seeks access to or a copy of a public record does not afford any greater right of access to the requested information than other persons in the general public. The Public Records Law does not distinguish between requestors. Access to a record pursuant to the Public Records Law rests on the content of the record and not the circumstances of the requester. See Bougas v. Chief of Police of Lexington, 371 Mass. 59, 64 (1976). Accordingly, Mr. Little's purpose in making the request has no bearing on the public status of any existing responsive records. It should be further noted that Public Records Appeal process does not apply to an individual seeking access to their own records. See also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(9)(a) (the administrative appeal process "shall not apply to records in which an individual, or a representative of the individual, has a unique right of access to the record through statutory, regulatory, judicial or other applicable means"). One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Stephanie Byron SPRl 7/199 Page 2 February 22, 2017 Fee estimates Under the Public Records Law, an agency may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d ). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(i). However, it is important to note that MPCH cited G. L. c. 111, § 70 in its response to Mr. Little. Health care facilities as described in G. L. c. 111, § 70 are subject to a fee structure separate from the Public Records Law ("Section ten of chapter sixty-six shall not apply to such records") . . . . a copy shall be furnished upon the payment of a reasonable fee, which for the purposes of this section shall mean a base charge of not more than $15 for each request for a hospital or clinic medical record; a per page charge of not more than $0.50 for each of the first 100 pages of a hospital or clinic medical record that is copied per request; and not more than $0.25 per page for each page in excess of 100 pages of a hospital or clinic medical record that is copied per request ... G. L. C. 111, § 70 Conclusion Whereas, the fee structures provided for in the Public Records Law do not apply to the requested records, I decline to opine on this matter. Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Jon Little