Text of Statute

(A) The physician who is associated with a non-spousal artificial insemination shall place the written consent obtained pursuant to division (A)(1) of section 3111.35 of the Revised Code, information provided to the recipient and, if married, her husband pursuant to division (A)(2) of that section, other information concerning the donor that he possesses, and other matters concerning the artificial insemination in a file that shall bear the name of the recipient. This file shall be retained by the physician in his office separate from any regular medical chart of the recipient, and shall be confidential, except as provided in divisions (B) and (C) of this section. This file is not a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(B) The written consent form and information provided to the recipient and, if married, her husband pursuant to division (A)(2) of section 3111.35 of the Revised Code shall be open to inspection only until the child born as the result of the non-spousal artificial insemination is twenty-one years of age, and only to the recipient or, if married, her husband upon request to the physician.

(C) Information pertaining to the donor that was not provided to the recipient and, if married, her husband pursuant to division (A)(2) of section 3111.35 of the Revised Code and that the physician possesses shall be kept in the file pertaining to the non-spousal artificial insemination for at least five years from the date of the artificial insemination. At the expiration of this period, the physician may destroy such information or retain it in the file.

The physician shall not make this information available for inspection by any person during the five-year period or, if the physician retains the information after the expiration of that period, at any other time, unless the following apply:

(1) A child is born as a result of the artificial insemination, an action is filed by the recipient, her husband if she is married, or a guardian of the child in the domestic relations division or, if there is no domestic relations division, the general division of the court of common pleas of the county in which the office of the physician is located, the child is not twenty-one years of age or older, and the court pursuant to division (C)(2) of this section issues an order authorizing the inspection of specified types of information by the recipient, husband, or guardian;

(2) Prior to issuing an order authorizing an inspection of information, the court shall determine, by clear and convincing evidence, that the information that the recipient, husband, or guardian wishes to inspect is necessary for or helpful in the medical treatment of the child born as a result of the artificial insemination, and shall determine which types of information in the file are germane to the medical treatment and are to be made available for inspection by the recipient, husband, or guardian in that regard. An order only shall authorize the inspection of information germane to the medical treatment of the child.

HISTORY: 141 v H 476. Eff 9-24-86.