Government
Physicians express concern over "partial-birth abortion" subpoenas
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 12, 2004
Delegates to the AMA's Annual Meeting in June directed the Association to communicate to President Bush and the Dept. of Justice their concern about the government's decision earlier this year to subpoena private medical records of patients who had miscarriages and abortions.
Exactly what form the communication might take was still undecided at press time. The majority of physicians gathered for the meeting said the government went too far in trying to collect information so that it could defend the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act against several lawsuits that physicians and women's right groups filed in federal courts.
"We absolutely have to protect individual patients' privacy," said New Jersey general surgeon Michael H. Bernstein, MD.
But not everyone agreed that the government crossed the line. Illinois obstetrician-gynecologist Leroy M. Sprang, MD, said the government went to great lengths to have hospitals remove identifying information before patients' charts were released.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/07/12/gvbf0712.htm.
