Central General Hospital, Inc. v. Lukash

*114OPINION OF THE COURT

Spatt, J.

We are called upon to determine whether a hospital is entitled to receive copies of autopsy reports prepared by a County Medical Examiner with regard to patients who died while confined to the hospital when the attending pysician was unable to certify the cause of death. We hold that the educational value of the autopsy reports under these circumstances constitutes a "substantial interest” within the purview of County Law § 677 (3) (b), and therefore, the hospital is entitled to the autopsy reports.

The petitioner Central General Hospital, a licensed acute care…