Open Records — treatment records

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Civil

Open Records — treatment records

The conditional release plan of a person committed after a finding of NGI is a treatment record exempt from the open records law.

“[I]t is plain that all such plans are, by statutory definition, ‘treatment records.’ They are ‘created in the course of providing services to individuals for mental illness,’ and thus should be deemed confidential. See WIS. STAT. § 51.30(1)(b) (emphasis added). The term ‘services’ in § 51.30(1)(b) ties directly to use of that term in WIS. STAT. § 971.17(4)(e)1. (‘shall prepare a plan that identifies the treatment and services, if any, that the person will receive in the community’) (emphasis added). We discern no legislative intent to limit the scope of records intended to be protected as confidential under § 51.30(1)(b) through the use of the word ‘services’ instead of the longer phrase ‘treatment and services,’ particularly since the focus of § 51.30(1)(b) is on ‘treatment records.’ (Emphasis added.) Conditional release plans are a forward-looking version of the ongoing, day-to-day provision of treatment and services that occurs while the person is still in institutional care. A plan charts a course for the continuation of treatment and services when there is a shift from the institutional to the community setting.”

Affirmed in part, and Reversed in part.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2010AP3120 La Crosse Tribune v. Circuit Court for La Crosse County

Dist. IV, La Crosse County, Gonzalez, J., Blanchard, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Birnbaum, James G., La Crosse; Kirchner, Jessica T., La Crosse; For Respondent: Rice, David C., Madison; Gruenke, Tim, La Crosse; Potter, Kevin C., Madison; Kerschensteiner, Kristin M., Madison