Government

Michigan judge says doctor must share pertinent patient records

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 5, 2004

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A federal judge in Michigan ordered a University of Michigan Health System physician to identify and turn over abortion records demonstrating that the intact dilation and extraction procedure can be medically necessary. But U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn in Detroit in March agreed that UMHS and the physician can send the information to him in a sealed envelope and remove any patient identifying information.

The envelope then will be sent on to a New York judge hearing a case in which organizations are suing the federal government to stop a law known as the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. The records will be sealed and not available to the public.

The government says the procedure, sometimes referred to as "partial-birth" abortion, is never medically necessary. It is seeking records to disprove claims that the law is unconstitutional because it doesn't include an exception for medical necessity.

Physicians and hospitals in several states have tried to stop the government from seeing patient records. Courts in Chicago and San Francisco have said physicians do not need to turn over records. The Detroit court joins a New York court in ordering doctors to produce the files.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/04/05/gvbf0405.htm.

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