Section 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.