What is state of Alabama law regarding release of medical records containing psych info?

Federal law trumps state law and HIPAA (federal law) indicates that medical records must be released to the patient upon their request. The patient is the "holder of privilege" (meaning that the documents cannot be released without the patient's consent). The exception to this is if the patient is using a "not guilty by reason of insanity" defense in a criminal trial. Then, the records are open to the court - even without the patient's consent. There is one more caveat - psych records (and medical records in general) won't contain the raw data of any testing and the medical professional can decide to withhold any information that they would consider to be psychologically damaging to the patient. Finally - if the patient of record is deceased and they have not signed a consent form to release their records to a family member, the records are sealed. They may not be seen by the family without a court order to release the records.