CONFIDENTIALITY.

(a) Except as specifically authorized by this chapter, reports, records, and information furnished to a department employee or to an authorized agent of the department that relate to cases or suspected cases of a health condition are confidential and may be used only for the purposes of this chapter.

(b) Reports, records, and information relating to cases or suspected cases of health conditions are not public information under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may not be released or made public on subpoena or otherwise except as provided by this chapter.

(c) The department may release medical, epidemiological, or toxicological information:

(1) for statistical purposes, if released in a manner that prevents the identification of any person;

(2) with the consent of each person identified in the information or, if the person is a minor, the minor's parents, managing conservator, guardian, or other person who is legally authorized to consent;

(3) to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies, health authorities, regional directors, and public officers of counties and municipalities as necessary to comply with this chapter and department rules relating to the identification, monitoring, and referral of children with birth defects;

(4) to appropriate federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Public Health Service; or

(5) to medical personnel to the extent necessary to protect the health or life of the child identified in the information.

(d) The executive commissioner, the commissioner, another employee of the department, or an authorized agent may not be examined in a civil, criminal, special, or other proceeding as to the existence or contents of pertinent records of or reports or information about a child identified or monitored for a birth defect by the department without the consent of the child's parents, managing conservator, guardian, or other person authorized by law of this state or another state or by a court order to give consent.