Health care professionals not required to disclose patient firearm information, when
Doctors and other licensed health care workers in Missouri do not have to ask patients about gun ownership, write it in medical records, or report it to the government just because a patient owns a gun. They also cannot share that information unless a court orders it, there is a threat to someone's safety, a mental health referral is involved, or the patient signs a separate form giving permission. However, if a doctor decides it is medically necessary, asking about and recording firearm information is still allowed. Also, electronic medical record systems cannot be set up so that a doctor is forced to enter gun ownership information just to save a patient's record.
*571.012. s not required to disclose patient firearm , when. — 1. No health care professional licensed in this state, nor anyone under his or her supervision, shall be required by law to:
(1) Inquire as to whether a patient owns or has access to a firearm;
(2) Document or maintain in a patient's medical s whether such patient owns or has access to a firearm; or
(3) Notify any of the id of a patient based solely on the patient's status as an owner of, or the patient's access to, a firearm.
2. No health care professional licensed in this state, nor anyone under his or her supervision, nor any person or entity that has possession or control of medical records, may disclose information gathered in a doctor/patient relationship about the status of a patient as an owner of a firearm, unless by of a , in response to a threat to the health or safety of that patient or another person, as part of a to a mental health professional, or with the patient's on a separate document dealing solely with firearm ownership. The separate document shall not be filled out as a matter of routine, but only when, in the of the health care professional, it is or necessitated.
3. Nothing in this section shall be as prohibiting or otherwise restricting a health care professional from inquiring about and documenting whether a patient owns or has access to a firearm if such inquiry or documentation is necessitated or medically indicated by the health care professional's judgment and such inquiry or documentation does not violate any other state or federal law.
4. No health care professional licensed in this state shall use an program that requires, in order to complete and save a medical record, entry of data regarding whether a patient owns, has access to, or lives in a home containing a firearm.
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Source & history notes
(L. 2014 S.B. 656) *Effective 10-10-14, see § 21.250. S.B. 656 was vetoed July 14, 2014. The veto was overridden on September 10, 2014.
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.