AMA Journal of Ethics^®

Being undocumented is a risk factor for mental illness, and immigration status relates prominently to overall health. That’s enough to consider it protected health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule.

Because maintaining strict confidentiality is often untenable, or even illegal, determining the extent of protections in the postmortem context ultimately entails a weighing of the various interests at stake.

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics' opinion on confidentiality of patient disclosure and circumstances under which it may be breached.