Births

Lancaster General will provide, as a daily service, lists of legitimate births to all news media which request them. Information will include names of parents, date of birth, sex, and community of parents. No specific addresses will be released. The hospital will not release information relating to illegitimate birth unless consent is obtained from the father and mother or by law or court process. No birth information is released without written consent of the child’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s).

Medical Records

Medical records are communications between doctors and the patients and not open for inspection.

Psychiatric Admissions

No statement will be made concerning the patient’s treatment, nor will the name of the attending physician be released in the case of patient admitted for psychiatric reasons. Patients will not be identified as being in the Mental Health Unit.

Juvenile Patients

Information about the condition of a patient under the age of 18 will be released only after written consent from the patient’s parent(s) or legal guardian.

Disasters

In the event of a disaster or a similar mass-casualty event, an unusually high amount of activity and volume of patients being treated could result. To better facilitate the distribution of patient information, all news media will be stationed in a lounge area of the Lancaster General Student Nurses Residence on Lime Street where pertinent information will be made available.

Prisoners and Crime Victims

The decision to designate prisoners and crime victims as “A Patients” is at the discretion of law enforcement officials and hospital security. The “A Patient” designation is not automatic. For example, if police believe that a crime victim is still at risk, the patient is made an "A Patient".