N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4165

§ 4165. Persons in institutions; registration. 1. Directors,\nsuperintendents, managers or other persons in charge of hospitals, homes\nfor indigents, lying-in or other institutions, public or private, to\nwhich persons resort for treatment of diseases or confinement, or to\nwhich persons are committed by process of law, shall make, at the time\nof their admittance, a record of all the personal and statistical\nparticulars relative to the patients and incarcerated individuals in\ntheir institutions, which are required in the forms of the certificate\nprovided for by this article as directed by the commissioner.\n 2. The personal particulars and information required by this section\nshall be obtained from the patient or incarcerated individual, if it is\npracticable to do so; and when they cannot be so obtained, they shall be\nobtained in as complete a manner as possible from relatives, friends, or\nother persons acquainted with the facts.\n 3. In the case of persons admitted or committed for treatment of\ndisease, the physician in charge shall specify for entry in the record,\nthe nature of the disease, and where, in his opinion, it was contracted.\n 4. The records of patients or incarcerated individuals obtained in\naccordance with this section shall not be sold to any person for\npromotional or profit-making purposes without the written consent of\nsuch patient or incarcerated individual or the written consent of the\nlegal representative of such patient or incarcerated individual.\n