Judge rules Limbaugh medical records to remain sealed for now

Associated Press ^ | 12-24-03 | JILL BARTON

[wallcrawlr]

A judge resealed Rush Limbaugh's medical records Wednesday, giving the conservative radio commentator's attorneys time to appeal his earlier decision allowing prosecutors to examine the files for evidence Limbaugh illegally purchased painkillers.

Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff ordered the records remain sealed for 15 days while Limbaugh's attorneys pursue their appeal. Winikoff had ruled Tuesday that prosecutors could examine the records, but could not make them public.

[RS]

""high placed government sources" are not the terms reporters use to identify defense attorneys. But good try."

Local DA's are "high placed government sources" now ?
... and they are so stupid that they leak info to reporters that would identify them as "high placed government sources" ?

... and reporters would not be devious either...nah...But good try.

[antiRepublicrat]

It looks like Rush's big-bucks lawyer is paying off and is disrupting the investigation on procedural grounds. The judge agreed they have a right to the records if they can establish that they are an integral part to an investigation, and

there's a tremendous overlap going on with each of those prescriptions wherein the prescribed date gives you X number of days and within that same time frame there are multiple prescriptions by multiple doctors that are still during the life of the same prescription and are actually intervening on those time frames if they're taken according to their dosage. And the numbers, the sheer numbers themselves indicate a pattern and practice inconsistent with what the doctors were prescribing.

That alone should meet the requirements that the records be germane to the investigation. Either Rush is doctor shopping or he is innocent and some doctors are going to lose their licenses for over-prescribing.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Every time I visit a doctor, the nurse (who takes my blood pressure, pulse, etc.) always asks about prescriptions (and vitamins, etc.) Mostly they want to know if I need a refill or if I am taking something (not from them) which might cause an adverse reaction.

[Peach]

You are not aware that DA's work for the either feds or state? hmmmm

[Peach]

And I should have added, although reporters are certainly devious, it would be one hell of a conspiracy for both AP writers, specific reporters for USA Today, specific reporters for (fill in the blank), all CLAIMED to be talking to "official goverment sources" (read DA for those not in the know) but were actually talking to defense attorneys.

And, this conspiracy by reporters was being conducted to protect Rush Limbaugh and his attorney!!! Now there would be a story.

Doesn't work for me, but keep trying.

[RS]

Solves that problem -

"official goverment sources" are not leaks

Perhaps they got their info from the court records and transcripts that ARE "official goverment sources"

( you can find a lot of info online )

[Peach]

Now that's a good point and you could be right. I can't remember the exact wording but will look for it in the future to see if the reporters say something like "...in discussions with...".

Merry Christmas everybody; back to baking.

[GB]

Bad choice of words, but I agree. Only thing is, though, I don't think Rush's ego will let him capitulate here. And that is what is going to be required to make this go away. Capitulation to people he probably despises, and more public embarrassment and humiliation. And as much as I love him, I don't think he's got it in him to do that.

And just like in the 400-post thread I participated in on this subject yesterday, all the ranting and raving and hyperbole and seeing this as some kind of EEEEEVILLLL satanic plot brewed up in Hillary and the DNC's star chamber and fueled by the media is just tin-foil hat stuff by people who cannot divorce this issue from politics and the battle between left and right in this country, and who because of the Lord's work Rush has done for the conservative cause over the last 15 years would blindly defend him even if, as I said yesterday, he ritually sacrificed a virgin in the middle of Times Square on national television and then ran to the top of the Empire State Building, dripping with blood and waving a knife, and proclaimed himself the antichrist.

And no one until yet has taken me up on what I tossed out yesterday: Look me in the eye as best you can through cyberspace and deny that if Hillary Clinton were in this exact, same situation, with the same facts, evidence and variables involved, you wouldn't be stacking kindling at the stake.

[July 4th]

It shouldn't matter. If the documents are permanently sealed, the prosecutors can no longer use them as evidence, nor can they use evidence gotten by knowledge of what's in the records.

If the records cannot be offered as an exhibit at trial, it would be really hard to show doctor shopping.

[Liberty Valance]

Meanwhile, those lovable Clines enjoy a luxurious holiday in the Keys on Rush's dime without fear of the law cause they got a "get out of jail free" card from the Florida Rat party.

[freekitty]

How can they call it doctor shopping when doctors regularly send you to specialists because they don't want to be sued?

[gitmo]

THE COURT: Now, part of your petition has been that there is a true emergency because Mr. Limbaugh can't be treated by his physicians since the State has all his records.

MR. BLACK: Well, that's not true because there ---

THE COURT: You're asking for a week, you're asking for three days, now you're asking for a certiorari stay which would be a month, six weeks or whatever it might be.

MR. BLACK: Subsequent to filing that, we found out that doctors were able to make copies of the records when the originals were taken. So that's not so much a compelling problem for us.

You snipped too early.

[Sacajaweau]

What's wrong with this picture?? I'm not sure what this drug does to you. However, too much would likely make him unable to carry on in a normal fashion. What are we missing??

I found it interesting that Florida Law (in the Court transcript) specifically mentions addiction to his medicine.

As far as the presciptions, First, we don't know the dose of each pill and I see going back and forth with two medications. One at night?? since we are normally in less pain when at rest. The other for daytime? What's the terms of the presciption? I see 240 daytime for 30 days and 2 nightime for 30 days. (My best guess)...2 at 6 AM, 10AM, 2PM, 6PM daytime and 2 @ 10 PM.

[GB]

But is it not the case that a drug like Oxy, to offer the benefits it claims, would have to be so powerful that it would almost inherently lead to the abuse that is the reason for the war on Oxy, doctors, etc.?

The stuff is four times powerful than heroin, if I'm not mistaken. That's bone-chillingly scary to me. I know the stuff has some benefits, and I don't want to downplay the suffering of anyone who's in severe pain, I've never walked in those shoes but something could happen and I could wake up in the a.m. and be in those shoes, looking for relief.

But when you put the good on one scale and the bad on the other, do they balance or does the bad outweigh the good?

A friend of my mother's lost one kid to an Oxy overdose and had another go through rehab. The girl who went through rehab, last I heard she was clean and was going around giving speeches about the dangers of drug abuse, but she also told someone that she still craved Oxy 365/24/7, that it just has an undescribable hold on you, which makes me less than optimistic about the chances of her staying clean although I pray she will.

A couple of years ago, when Oxy was really bad around my neck of the woods, the cops found two teenage girls in their car in the parking lot at a high school football game, both zonked out on Oxy, the needles literally still sticking out of their arms, and they were basically comatose, drooling and had lost control of their bodily functions.

I ask again, when you put stuff like that on one side of the scales and the good it does on the other side, does it balance?

One more anecdotal story I've told here before, a person I work with has a husband who's disabled and in constant pain. His doctor wanted to put him on Oxy. She told him under no circumstances would she permit Oxy to be brought into her house, period, end of discussion, that he'd have to find something else to relieve his pain.

On the one hand, that's cold ... but on the other hand, is her fear not justified?

[Oystir]

Actually, the judge knew exactly what he was doing during an oral arguement; Roy got his a** handed to him because he couldn't differentiate a subpoena vs. a search warrant (effecuating a search warrant has higher standard of judicial involvement than a subpoena and requires a judge to find progable cause that a crime was committed and evidence will be found at the place searched).

Often in cases in which alot of $ is involved, lawyers will file court papers so as to seen doing "something" when the better course may be to hang back a bit. Rushes' attorneys have now given the prosecutor a much better chance of seeing the medical records then if they remained under seal while trying to negotiate a favorable outcome.

[GB]

I would like to be a fly on the wall when Black and Rush are talking. Black is too smart a lawyer not to have spelled out for Rush exactly what will be required to make this go away ASAP. My .02, as I've speculated before, is that Rush has gotten his back up and is probably operating under the same mindset that a lot of folks are here, that this is just some evil, Hillary-inspired plot to silence him instead of the consequences of his own actions, and he isn't about to crawl on his knees in front of people he's probably grown to despise, and is probably saying "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

Let's just hope he doesn't get sunk.

[RS]

"If the records cannot be offered as an exhibit at trial, it would be really hard to show doctor shopping."

I suppose they could call the doctors themselves to testify.

One thing noone has brought up yet, the 4 doctors and the records from only ONE pharmacy were used in the application for the search warrents - Did Rush have doctors in L.A. ... and N.Y. that he might have been tapping also ?

[RS]

"You snipped too early."

Maybe so - the lines below strengthen my arguement

ALL four of the doctors were able to make copies,
( seems like that would have taken some time and been a memorable "event" to the staff )
... yet none of them said anything to the lawyer before he just "decided" that they would not be able to treat Rush and added that to his demand.

[antiRepublicrat]

As far as the presciptions, First, we don't know the dose of each pill and I see going back and forth with two medications.

Obviously the specifics were good enough to establish probable cause to get the medical records.

[jellybean]

You left out part of that exchange. Let me finish it for you:

THE COURT: Now, part of your petition has been that there is a true emergency because Mr. Limbaugh can't be treated by his physicians since the State has all his records.

MR. BLACK: Well, that's not true because there ---

THE COURT: You're asking for a week, you're asking for three days, now you're asking for a certiorari stay which would be a month, six weeks or whatever it might be.

MR. BLACK: Subsequent to filing that, we found out that doctors were able to make copies of the records when the originals were taken. So that's not so much a compelling problem for us.

I know you want to be as accurate as possible and am assuming it was just an oversight on your part.