Ruling sets deadline for U-M to turn over abortion records
Saturday, March 13, 2004
The Detroit News
By Maureen Feighhan Ruling sets deadline for U-M to turn over abortion recordsThe University of Michigan has until March 25 to hand over certain abortion records handled by one of its doctors embroiled in a legal fight over the constitutionality of a federal partial-birth abortion ban, a federal judge in Detroit has ruled. U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn's ruling leaves it up to Dr. Timothy R.B. Johnson, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan Health System, to identify medical records for certain types of late-term abortions he either performed or supervised rather than giving the U.S. Justice Department full access to all of Johnson's records. The records, which were sought as part of the government's defense of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, won't disclose any patient's identity and will be turned over to Cohn. Cohn, in turn, will hand the sealed documents over to a New York federal judge handling the constitutionality case. Monica Goodling, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, said the government was pleased with Cohn's decision. “While we have (a) duty to defend the law banning partial-birth abortion, we are doing so in a way that protects patient privacy,” she said. Lawyers for U-M, who had earlier sought to block the government's request for all records, said the ruling sufficiently protects their patients' privacy rights while handing over certain records Cohn had earlier told them he would release. “Our position was to protect the rights of our patients, and we did that,” said Ed Goldman, deputy general counsel for U-M. The ruling is the latest development in a flurry of court cases either challenging the legality of the partial-birth abortion ban or seeking to block discovery in the New York case. Johnson is one of seven doctors who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the National Abortion Federation that challenges the partial-birth abortion ban because they say in some cases the procedure is medically necessary. The trial is scheduled to start March 29 in New York. As part of that case, the Justice Department has filed subpoenas seeking medical records from six hospitals including the University of Michigan Health System, one in Illinois, one in Pennsylvania and three in New York. A federal judge has already quashed the request for records in Illinois, which the Justice Department is appealing, and another judge is deliberating a similar request in Pennsylvania. But whether the trial includes medical records from U-M will be up to Johnson. Goldman said it is not the university's responsibility to make sure Johnson complies with the government's request. If he doesn't, he could face further action from the court. “There is nothing we need to do to assure that he complies,” Goldman said. “That is up to (Johnson) and his attorney.”
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