## Facts

- A 14-year-old minor became pregnant after a sexual relationship with her 21-year-old soccer coach.
- The coach persuaded the minor to obtain an abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility.
- Ohio law required parental consent for a minor’s abortion; the minor provided the coach’s phone number, and he impersonated her father when contacted.
- Planned Parenthood performed the abortion without the parents’ actual consent.
- After a report by a teacher, the coach was later convicted of sexual battery.
- The parents sued Planned Parenthood and others, alleging failure to obtain valid parental consent and informed consent and breach of a statutory duty to report suspected child abuse under former Ohio Rev. Code § 2151.421.
- To support punitive damages based on an alleged pattern of nonreporting, the parents sought discovery of nonparty minors’ abuse reports and medical records, even if redacted.
- The trial court ordered production in redacted form; the court of appeals reversed, and the Ohio Supreme Court accepted review.

## Issues

1. Whether the balancing test from *Biddle v. Warren Gen. Hosp.* permits civil discovery of confidential medical records and child-abuse reports of nonparties.
2. Whether later-enacted Ohio Rev. Code § 2151.421(M) could be applied to conduct occurring before its enactment.
3. Whether punitive damages are available for an alleged breach of former Ohio Rev. Code § 2151.421 absent express statutory authorization.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed the court of appeals.
- The *Biddle* balancing test does not create a discovery right to obtain nonparty confidential medical records or abuse reports in a private damages action.
- Redaction does not remove statutory privilege or confidentiality protections from nonparty minors’ records.
- Ohio Rev. Code § 2151.421(M) affects substantive rights and could not be applied retroactively to the events at issue.
- Punitive damages were unavailable under former Ohio Rev. Code § 2151.421 because the statute did not expressly authorize them.

## Legal Principles

- Civil discovery under Ohio Civ. R. 26(B)(1) does not permit compelled disclosure of privileged or statutorily confidential materials, including nonparty medical records and child-abuse reports.
- The *Biddle* balancing test is confined to a provider’s defense in an unauthorized-disclosure tort and does not override statutory privileges in third-party discovery disputes.
- Removing names and other identifiers does not transform privileged or confidential medical and abuse-report information into discoverable material.
- Statutes that create or alter civil liability are substantive and generally may not be applied retroactively when doing so would violate due process.
- Punitive damages are not recoverable for violation of a statutory duty unless the legislature clearly authorizes that remedy.

## Conclusion

The Ohio Supreme Court held that confidential medical records and child-abuse reports of nonparty minors remain privileged and undiscoverable in private civil litigation, limited *Biddle* to unauthorized-disclosure defenses, barred retroactive application of a later liability provision in the reporting statute, and denied punitive damages under former Ohio Rev. Code § 2151.421 absent explicit statutory authority.


Roe v. Planned Parenthood Sw. Ohio Region, 122 Ohio St. 3d 399, 912 N.E.2d 61 (Ohio 2009)