A federal appeals court quashed Friday an attempt by theDepartment of Justice to obtain medical records from NorthwesternMemorial Hospital of patients who have received late-termabortions.
The 2-1 ruling found that if Northwestern Memorial turned overthe records it would invade patient privacy, upholding a rulingmade by Chicago’s chief U.S. district judge last month.
“The government does not deny that (Northwestern Memorial) is anappropriate representative of the privacy interests of itspatients,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the majority decision onbehalf of the 7th U.S. District Court of Appeals.
The Justice Department sought 45 records — including those ofpatients of Cassing Hammond, an obstetrics and gynecology professorand physician at Northwestern Memorial who had performed late-termabortions — for defending a late-term abortion ban in a New Yorktrial that began Monday.
The Justice Department also has called for the abortion recordsof dozens of other hospitals, but Northwestern Memorial is the onlyone to claim victory in court.
“Our hospital acted vigorously to protect (patients’)confidential health information from disclosure,” said KellySullivan, director of media relations for NorthwesternMemorial.
The Justice Department’s argued that a privacy violation wouldnot take place as long as the names and personal information of thewomen on the medical records were blacked out.
Despite their loss, the Justice Department stood by its originalargument in a statement released Friday, claiming the redactedrecords did not pose a threat to patients.
“The medical records sought would not contain any patient names,social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers or otheridentifying information,” the statement said.
The ruling brings an end to a three-month legal battle betweenNorthwestern Memorial and the federal government that began inDecember.
The federal government wanted the records for a trial in NewYork between the federal government and a coalition of physiciansand civil action groups challenging the Partial Birth Abortion BanAct of 2003. That case began Monday with similar suits inCalifornia and Nebraska.
The act banned the controversial procedure of late-termabortion. The ban states that late-term abortions are nevermedically necessary.
Hammond did not return calls for comment yesterday.
Northwestern Memorial is a corporation separate from theuniversity, although students, physicians and faculty from theFeinberg School of Medicine work at the hospital.
“(The ruling) will give abortion proponents some added weight totheir argument, which I don’t think they deserve,” said Weinbergsophomore and former Daily staffer Ben Snyder, the activismchairman of NU Students for Life.
Abortion-rights activists expressed relief at the ruling.
“A woman’s privacy and the services she gets are reallyessential,” said Cathy D’Avanzato, an Education junior who is vicepresident of Women’s Coalition. “If you don’t know that, when yougo to the doctor, what happens is going to be kept between you andyour doctor, then women aren’t going to get the services theyneed.”
