The hunt for the savage beast who butchered an Upper East Side therapist has hit a roadblock – because detectives can’t access her patients’ medical records under federal privacy laws, The Post has learned.
Police believe the meat-cleaver-wielding psycho who killed Kathryn Faughey on Tuesday night inside her office on East 79th Street could be the doctor’s patient – and need access to her records to identify him.
But police sources said because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, investigators are having a hard time gaining access to those records.
“A case like this gets complicated because of medical privacy protections,” a source close to the investigation told The Post yesterday.
The federal law states that doctors, hospitals and health-insurance companies must protect the privacy of patients – even in a murder investigation – and that only through the use of subpoenas can authorities hope to obtain such information.
Police sources said investigators have applied for a subpoena, but have yet to receive it. Even if the subpoena is issued, patients can sue to keep their records private.
“You have to get a court order to get access to patient records because patient confidentiality is very important,” said Dr. Roy Lubit, a New York City forensic psychiatrist who is familiar with the law.
“The patients would have an opportunity to speak up, get a lawyer and go to court.
“It’s in our best interest to find this dangerous person, but in terms of what the law is, confidentiality is very important.”
It’s unclear whether police have interviewed any of Faughey’s patients over the past two days.
But detectives have tried to get around the law by tracking down patients through sign-in sheets at the building’s front desk and through surveillance cameras in the lobby, sources said.
Cops are also looking at her appointment book and hoping it will yield names, sources said.
They also hope patients will be willing to come forward and provide them with names of other patients – perhaps friends or relatives who were also in Faughey’s care and willing to consent to releasing their medical records, sources said.
A police source believes the killer was familiar with Faughey’s office because of the ease in which he made his escape.
The Medical Examiner’s Office determined yesterday that Faughey, 56, died as a result of a stab wound to the chest and blunt impact injuries to the head.
Cops yesterday removed 16 bags of evidence – including two chairs – from Faughey’s office. At 9 p.m., they hauled out nine boxes of evidence.
They are hoping to run more forensic tests over the next few days in a bid to identify her killer, who also stabbed and wounded another doctor, Kent Shinbach.
Police also recovered three knives inside the office. They included a 9-inch knife found under her desk and a meat cleaver, both of which were bent from the force of the attack.
Faughey’s husband, Walter Adam, said yesterday, “I’m very comfortable they will find the killer.”
The madman, who was wearing a green coat and sneakers, left his suitcase and smaller bag near the basement door, through which he escaped at 8:59 p.m.
The bags he left behind were filled with adult diapers and women’s clothing – including blouses and slippers – and eight knives, along with rope and duct tape that were not used in the attack.
A man from Coplay, Pa., William Kunsman, was considered a “person of interest” by the NYPD and questioned yesterday. He was let go after nine hours when investigators confirmed his alibi.
Meanhwhile, shaken neighbors expressed fear and dread that the madman was still on the loose.
Arlene Egelberg, who lives in the same building as Faughey at 440 E. 79th St., said: “The fact that someone that is disturbed and violent is still out here makes me feel apprehensive. This whole thing is nightmarish.”
Leda Rosenberg, who also lives in the neighborhood, feared the killer was still nearby.
“It’s very frightening,” she said. “Now, I’m looking up and down each time I walk the hallways [to my apartment]. I never did that before.”
Faughey’s husband said his wife’s life had a “storybook beginning and a gruesome end.”
Adam also said his wife, who was born in Sunnyside, Queens, had always wanted to live in Manhattan and loved to bike along the East River and take in views of the city skyline from her building’s roof.
He said the past few days have been very hard.
When a neighbor asked how he was doing, Adam responded: “When I’m with people, it’s OK. When I’m alone it’s the hardest.”
Family and friends will gather this afternoon for Faughey’s wake at the Nagel Funeral Home on East 87th Street.
Additional reporting by Samuel Goldsmith, Austin Fenner and Lorena Mongelli