## Facts

- Emergency personnel responded to Laura Sergio’s home in April 2007; an EMT found Sergio in a bathroom with blood present and asked if she was or had been pregnant; Sergio said no.
- Sergio was taken to a hospital, where she made statements to treating physicians (in her mother’s presence) indicating she had recently given birth but did not have the baby with her.
- Hospital personnel notified police due to concern for the newborn’s safety and whereabouts.
- Police investigation led to discovery of a newborn baby girl outside Sergio’s home in a plastic garbage bag; the baby was dead.
- Sergio was indicted for second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, and endangering the welfare of a child.
- The grand jury heard testimony from the EMT, police, and the medical examiner, and received medical records reflecting recent childbirth and no infant present.

## Issues

1. Whether medical statements and records concerning recent childbirth and a missing newborn were protected by the physician–patient privilege, or instead were lawfully disclosed under child-protection reporting statutes.
2. Whether allegedly privileged medical information was improperly used to obtain a search warrant or presented to the grand jury, requiring dismissal for impaired grand jury integrity.
3. Whether the grand jury evidence, excluding any privileged material, was legally sufficient to support each charged offense, including the intent element of first-degree manslaughter.

## Decision

- The court denied the motion to dismiss the indictment.
- The court held that the limited medical information disclosed to authorities about recent childbirth and the missing newborn was either not privileged or was properly disclosed pursuant to mandatory child-protection reporting requirements.
- The court found that any arguable misuse of privileged material did not impair the integrity of the grand jury proceedings or create prejudice warranting dismissal.
- The court held that the grand jury evidence was legally sufficient to support all counts, including first-degree manslaughter.

## Legal Principles

- Physician–patient privilege protects confidential treatment communications, but does not cover nonconfidential observations and is construed narrowly in criminal litigation.
- Mandatory child-protection reporting statutes can permit disclosure of otherwise confidential medical information when professionals reasonably suspect child abuse or maltreatment, including circumstances involving a missing newborn.
- An indictment may be dismissed for grand jury defects only when the integrity of the proceeding is impaired and prejudice may result; the presence of some arguably inadmissible evidence does not alone require dismissal where independent evidence supports the charges.
- Grand jury legal sufficiency is met when the evidence, if accepted as true, establishes every element of the offense and the defendant’s commission of it.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the indictment, concluding that disclosures concerning a recent birth and an unaccounted-for newborn were permissible under child-protection reporting obligations (or not privileged), that any claimed impropriety did not undermine grand jury integrity, and that the grand jury evidence was legally sufficient to proceed on the homicide and child-endangerment counts.


People v. Sergio, 864 N.Y.S.2d 264 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2008)