Abbott v. Texas State Board of Pharmacy

The Texas State Board of Pharmacy, as part of an investigation, refused the complainant's request to view its file, even though the file contained the requestor's own prescription. The district court granted summary judgment to the Board after it sued the attorney general, challenging an adverse letter ruling. Because there is no dispute that the requestor's prescription record is part of the Board's investigative file, it is confidential under Texas Occupations Code §565.055. The district court's summary judgment is affirmed. Austin Court of Appeals, No. 03-11-00481-CV, 11-21-2012.

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OPINION

The issue presented in this appeal is whether the Medical Practice Act grants a requestor the right to obtain his or her prescription record from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, even though the record is part of a confidential, investigative file and otherwise excepted from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act (PIA). See generally Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. §§ 552.001-.353 (West 2012). A complainant in an investigation conducted by the Board sought a copy of the Board’s investigative file. The Board believed that the entire file, including the requestor’s own prescription, was confidential under the Texas Pharmacy Act and consequently, “confidential by law” under section 552.101 of the PIA. See id. § 552.101 (providing that information is excepted from disclosure if it is information “considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision”). Upon the Board’s request for a ruling, the Attorney General issued a letter ruling, concluding that the file was generally confidential and not subject to disclosure, with the exception of the requestor’s prescription record. The Attorney General reasoned that the requestor has a right to his prescription record under the medical practice act and that this right trumps the Board’s claim of confidentiality under the pharmacy act. The Board sued Greg Abbott, Attorney General for the State of Texas, challenging the ruling with respect to the prescription record. In response to competing motions for summary judgment, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Board. The Attorney General filed this appeal. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

Abbott v. Texas State Board of Pharmacy

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