Lab results to be confidential

by Cat Urbigkit

Representative Monte Olsen was successful in getting one of his proposed pieces of legislation enacted into state law, when Governor Dave Freudenthal signed into law House Bill 182 last Friday.

The law relates to the Wyoming state veterinary laboratory and providing for confidentiality of records as specified.

The law states: "All individual identifying client information in the records and information maintained or collected by the Wyoming state veterinary laboratory related to diagnosis of contagious, infectious, communicable, toxic and genetic diseases of individual animals or herds shall be confidential and shall not be released except to the individual submitting the sample for diagnosis unless:

• Laboratory testing results in the recognition of a state or federally reportable disease;

• It is in the best interests of animal or human public health, as determined by the director of the Wyoming state veterinary laboratory or his designee, to release the information; or

• The release of the information is required by state or federal law. Nothing in this subsection shall affect the duty of the Wyoming state veterinary laboratory or any other person to report contagious or infectious diseases as required by state or federal law."

The law takes effect July 1.