Lima State Hospital-looking for historical info (storage, warehouse, money)

[ayshaakhtar]

Hello, I'm doing research on Lima State Hospital in Ohio, which is now closed.I'm looking for any original documents from the hospital-patient care records, photos, incident reports, security reports, etc. I'm also looking for anyone who worked there. Thanks!

[Natural510]

There's already long-running thread on this subject:


http://www.city-data.com/forum/ohio/...lima-ohio.html

[Clever nickname here]

Releasing any info rom patient records without a release from the patient would be a HIPPAA violation would it not?

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by Clever nickname here

Releasing any info rom patient records without a release from the patient would be a HIPPAA violation would it not?

It depends on how old the records are and who is requesting the records.

Since this was a state institution, all records would be subject to Ohio's Open Records law. Prior to release the state organization managing the records would review the request and deny certain records if they are related to HIPAA privacy laws or they would black out any information that would compromise privacy.

OP if you are aware of what happened to the records, what state department they are housed in, you could just do an Open Records request. The other thread from 2008 is interesting but contacting the state archives or whatever agency oversees hospital records that have closed would be my first step and asking them who to submit an Open Records request to in order to get access to certain records.

If they are in paper form and not scanned/digitized, you will be charged for copies. If they are in an archived warehouse or storage facility, you can always ask to view them and while you view them you can flag documents that you would like copies/scans of so you don't waste too much money on unwanted items.