Ashcroft subpoena'd info on women with partial birth abortions [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

Subject: FW: FYI - Ashcroft subpoenaed medical records
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 11:54:29 -0500
From: [reliable source snipped]
To: <declan () well com>

Someone forwarded this to me w/no source info.  Text references "Crain's
sister publication Modern Healthcare," which I googled to verify the
story exists.  It does.



        Judge denies Ashcroft's request for patient medical records

        By Mark Taylor
        February 09, 2004

        A move by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to subpoena the
medical records of 40 patients who received so-called partial-birth
abortions at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago was halted-at
least temporarily-when a Chicago federal judge quashed the information
request.

        The ruling is the first in a series of subpoenas by the U.S.
Justice Department seeking the medical records of patients from seven
physicians and at least five hospitals, Crain's sister publication
Modern Healthcare has learned. Besides Northwestern, Mr. Ashcroft is
seeking patient records from University of Michigan Hospitals and Health
Centers in Ann Arbor; Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia,
owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp.; Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
and Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital both
of which are part of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System; and an
unidentified San Francisco-area hospital.

        In a 16-page decision, U.S. Chief District Judge Charles Kocoras
denied the government's request to obtain patient medical records from
Northwestern, citing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and Illinois' medical privacy law.

        Northwestern received the subpoena in December, a month after
obstetrician/gynecologist Cassing Hammond, a member of Northwestern's
staff and medical school faculty, was served with subpoenas seeking his
patient records. Hammond is one of seven doctors and three groups who
has challenged the constitutionality of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban
Act of 2003. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the
National Abortion Federation; Planned Parenthood and the Center for
Reproductive Rights, which are all filing challenges to the law. A
hearing for all of the challenges has been scheduled for March 29 in
U.S. District Court in New York.

        Dr. Hammond refused comment last week. His case is pending.

        Sources at New York Presbyterian and Hahnemann who requested
anonymity confirmed the subpoenas at those hospitals. The University of
Michigan had not returned calls for comment at deadline.

[...]
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