New York Consolidated Laws, Public Health Law - PBH § 4165. Persons in institutions;  registration

1. Directors, superintendents, managers or other persons in charge of hospitals, homes for indigents, lying-in or other institutions, public or private, to which persons resort for treatment of diseases or confinement, or to which persons are committed by process of law, shall make, at the time of their admittance, a record of all the personal and statistical particulars relative to the patients and inmates in their institutions, which are required in the forms of the certificate provided for by this article as directed by the commissioner.

2. The personal particulars and information required by this section shall be obtained from the patient or inmate, if it is practicable to do so;  and when they cannot be so obtained, they shall be obtained in as complete a manner as possible from relatives, friends, or other persons acquainted with the facts.

3. In the case of persons admitted or committed for treatment of disease, the physician in charge shall specify for entry in the record, the nature of the disease, and where, in his opinion, it was contracted.

4. The records of patients or inmates obtained in accordance with this section shall not be sold to any person for promotional or profit-making purposes without the written consent of such patient or inmate or the written consent of the legal representative of such patient or inmate.