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Saturday, September 23, 2006
Ind. Decisions - More on the Planned Parenthood records decision
Updating yesterday's entries, Richard D. Walton of the Indianapolis Star reports today:
A minor's right to privacy bars the state from keeping the medical records of underage patients it seized from reproductive health clinics.That's what the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday. It stated that a lower court erred in refusing to block Medicaid investigators from taking documents from Planned Parenthood of Indiana centers. The judges also ordered the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to return any confiscated records to the trial court until the case is resolved.
At issue is whether a federal law on Medicaid fraud can be used to force health-care providers to turn over records that could identify children younger than 14 who are sexually active. Indiana law regards sex with a child younger than 14 as child abuse, no matter how old the other person is.
State law also compels anyone with knowledge of child abuse to report it to child welfare officials or police.
Attorneys for the state attorney general's office said the documents were needed to determine whether Planned Parenthood reported possible abuse, as required.
Planned Parenthood sued, saying the state's sweeping demands would discourage low-income minors from seeking care.
Last year, Marion Superior Court Judge Kenneth H. Johnson ruled that society's responsibility to protect against abuse trumped all other claims. The appeals court Friday found that the Medicaid unit had investigative authority but ruled by a vote of 3-0 that it could not trample privacy rights.
"We acknowledge the significant public interest in investigating complaints of patient neglect, . . . but granting (the unit's) demand for unlimited access to PPI's minor patients' medical records is neither the only, nor the most effective, nor the least intrusive means of serving those interests," the court wrote.
The Indiana attorney general's office said it was reviewing the ruling but declined further comment.
Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit Medicaid provider that operates 37 clinics in Indiana. Services include pregnancy testing, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. Fewer than 5 percent of the patients seen go there for abortions, said Betty Cockrum, the organization's president and CEO. * * *
The appeals court, while ordering that the trial court keep all seized records under seal, said the fraud unit may still refer any neglect complaint to authorities for criminal investigation. The unit also could issue a subpoena for the records.
However, Judge Michael Barnes, in a separate, concurring opinion, found that any subpoena would have to meet strict standards.
"I am skeptical that any subpoena would be sufficiently limited in scope and relevant in purpose to a valid criminal investigation," he wrote.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 23, 2006 09:06 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions