Posted on 03/19/2004 9:28:31 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick
A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered New York-Presbyterian Hospital to turn over to the Justice Department records on abortions performed there, saying the disclosure would not unduly harm the hospital or the privacy of its patients.
The ruling, issued on Thursday by Judge Richard Conway Casey of Federal District Court, conflicts with the interpretations of judges in other jurisdictions and creates further uncertainty about the limits of patients' medical privacy.
Federal judges in Chicago and San Francisco have refused in recent weeks to order clinics and hospitals to turn over the abortion records sought by the Justice Department, and legal analysts said the Supreme Court might ultimately have to review the issue because of the conflicting interpretations.
New York-Presbyterian, which includes hospitals at Columbia-Presbyterian Center and New York Weill Cornell Center, said it was considering an appeal of Judge Casey's order.
"We're sorry that the judge reached this conclusion, and we're reviewing our options," said Myrna Manners, a spokeswoman for New York-Presbyterian. "The privacy of our patients is of very great concern to us."
The Justice Department has said that it needs the medical records to defend the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, passed by Congress last year. Several abortion providers who are suing to block use of the law assert that the ban would prevent them from providing medically essential procedures. Justice Department lawyers say they need to examine records from those doctors' facilities to test those assertions.
Judge Casey, as well as federal judges in San Francisco and Nebraska, have temporarily blocked the government from enforcing the ban, and trials in all three cases are due to start next week. In a ruling earlier this week, Judge Casey, who is hearing a case brought by the National Abortion Federation, refused to strike down the law before the issue went to trial.
Last December, Judge Casey issued an order giving New York-Presbyterian authority to produce the medical records, but not requiring it to do so. He went further on Thursday, upholding the Justice Department's demand for the records.
Judge Casey said the records were not covered by federal laws governing medical privacy because the hospital could delete information that identified the women who received abortions.
The judge also rejected the hospital's argument that turning over the records would be an "undue burden" and could prompt "anger and mistrust of its patients, and damage to its reputation."
The hospital was brought into the issue because two of its attending doctors are among abortion providers suing to block the law. Hospital officials said it was still unclear how many of its patient records would be covered by the Justice Department's request.
What has to be guaranteed by the Feds is that no patient-specific information will be seen by anyone; no names or ways to identify individuals. Aggregate data good; individual data bad.
Yep. But with the Slimes' usual penchant for lies, half-truths, distortions and overall sloppiness, there's no mention of this in the story...
Since the hospital doesn't have to provide names of the people involved, how could any individuals be identified?
That "concern" of the hospitals for patient privacy is just a ruse to obscure the fact that they know very well that none of the PBAs they performed were medically necessary, and they don't want that information used in court to refute the plaintiff's claim that they were necessary. I'm sure the hospitals and doctors were making a "killing" (sorry) murdering babies as they were born, and they want the court to toss out the PBA ban that derailed their gravy train.
Many medical doctors, including Senator Frist, have already said there is never a situation where PBA is necessary to save a mother's life. But that doesn't matter to the pro-death gang, all that matters to them is their ability to legally murder babies anytime anywhere anyhow. Hitler's nazi thugs were just misguided boy scouts compared to those baby-murdering human vermin.
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