§ 2306.Hospital records; medical records of department or bureau of a municipal corporation or of the state

Medical records subpoenas raise a practical problem: a hospital cannot hand over its only copy of a patient's chart and keep treating people. CPLR 2306(a) solves that by letting a hospital, or a state or municipal medical records department, respond to a subpoena duces tecum with a transcript or a full-sized, legible reproduction, certified as correct by the head of the facility or an assistant, rather than the original. A court can still order the original produced. The subpoena itself must be served at least three days before the production date, unless a court shortens that window.

Subdivision (b) covers what happens when the records arrive before anyone needs them in the courtroom. If the court has designated a clerk to receive them, the records custodian can deliver to that clerk at or before the return date. The clerk gives a receipt and later tells the custodian when the records are no longer needed. Records must come in a sealed envelope marked with the case title, the production date, and the attorney's name and address, and stay available for inspection under the court's rules or order — protecting patient privacy while still making the records available to the litigants who need them.