US v. Univ. Hosp. of State Univ. of New York
| Decision Date | 17 November 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. CV 83-4818.,CV 83-4818. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT STONY BROOK, Defendant, Parents of Baby Jane Doe, Intervenor Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
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Edith S. Marshall and Daniel P. Butler, Civ. Rights Div., U.S. Dept. of Justice, William Bradford Reynolds, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charles J. Cooper, Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.
Robert Abrams, N.Y. Atty. Gen., New York City, for Hospital; Melvyn Leventhal, Asst. Atty. Gen., Richard Rifkin, Deputy 1st Asst. Atty. Gen., Paul Glickman, Stanley Camhi, Frederick Mehlman, Donna Miller, Asst. Attys. Gen., Martha Shoemaker, New York City, Sanford Levine, Caroline Pasley, Lewis Rosenthal, Albany, N.Y., of counsel.
Reynolds, Caronia & Gianelli, Hauppauge, for parents.
In this action, plaintiff, the United States of America, seeks an order directing that one of the defendants, University Hospital of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, allow the Department of Health and Human Services access to the medical records of a handicapped infant, hereinafter referred to as "Baby Jane Doe". Plaintiff contends that plaintiff is entitled to such an order pursuant to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794, which provides, in pertinent part:
Plaintiff contends that the Department of Health and Human Services must obtain the medical records of Baby Jane Doe in order to determine whether the defendant University Hospital, in failing to perform certain surgical procedures upon Baby Jane Doe to which the parents of Baby Jane Doe (who have intervened as defendants in this action) refused to give consent, violated the provisions of 29 U.S.C. § 794 cited above. The defendant University Hospital, and the defendant parents of Baby Jane Doe, have filed separate motions to dismiss this action. Plaintiff has moved for summary judgment.
1. On October 11, 1983, Baby Jane Doe was born, suffering from spina bifida, hydrocephalus, microcephaly, bilateral upper extremity spasticity, a prolapsed rectum, and a malformed brain stem.
2. The parents of Baby Jane Doe have refused to give consent to the University Hospital of the State University of New York at Stony Brook for the performance of surgical procedures upon Baby Jane Doe to treat the spinal defect and to drain the water from the infant's skull caused by the hydrocephalic condition, but have instead opted for a conservative treatment involving good nutrition and the administration of antibiotics and dressing of the exposed spinal sac to encourage the skin to grow over and protect it.
3. Consequently, the University Hospital of the State University of New York at Stony Brook has not performed the surgical procedures.
4. By means of a petition dated October 16, 1983, A. Lawrence Washburn, Jr., an attorney, commenced a proceeding in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Suffolk County, seeking the appointment of a guardian ad litem for Baby Jane Doe, and an order directing that the University Hospital of the State University of New York perform the surgical procedures. The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Suffolk County, appointed William E. Weber as guardian ad litem for Baby Jane Doe. The University Hospital of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the parents of Baby Jane Doe, appeared by their respective counsel, and evidence was taken. The Supreme Court of the State of New York, Suffolk County (Tanenbaum, J.), on October 20, 1983, determined that Baby Jane Doe was "in need of immediate surgical procedures to preserve her life," and ordered that the surgical procedures be performed.
5. On October 21, 1983, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York determined that Baby Jane Doe was not in imminent danger of death, and that the parents of Baby Jane Doe, in refusing permission for the operations, made a reasonable choice among possible medical treatments, acting with the best interests of the child in mind. That court consequently reversed the decision of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Suffolk County, and dismissed the proceeding.1
6. On October 28, 1983, the Court of Appeals of the State of New York determined that the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Suffolk County, had abused its discretion in having permitted the proceeding to go forward, since petitioner apparently had no relationship with the child, her family, or those treating the child; since the New York Legislature had placed primary responsibility for initiating child neglect proceedings upon child protection agencies; and since petitioner had apparently failed to contact those agencies. The Court of Appeals therefore affirmed the decision of the Appellate Division which dismissed the proceeding. The Court of Appeals left undisturbed, and indeed apparently endorsed, the determination by the Appellate Division that the parents of Baby Jane Doe had acted reasonably and with the best interests of the child in mind.2
7. During the period in which the state court proceedings were taking place, the Department of Health and Human Services received a complaint that Baby Jane Doe was being discriminatorily denied medically indicated treatment on the basis of her physical and mental handicaps.
8. The Department of Health and Human Services referred the complaint to the New York State Child Protection Service, which concluded that there was no cause for state intervention. The Service is a state agency, federally approved under the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, created to investigate suspected instances of child abuse, mistreatment, and neglect.
9. Since October 22, 1983, the Department of Health and Human Services, which was already in possession of Baby Jane Doe's medical records through October 19, 1983, has repeatedly requested that the University Hospital of the State University of New York at Stony Brook provide the Department with access to all of Baby Jane Doe's medical records. The University Hospital, acting in part on the refusal of Baby Jane Doe's parents to consent to the release of the records, has refused to release the records.
10. The University Hospital receives reimbursement from the federal government for the cost of providing medical services which are rendered to persons who are eligible beneficiaries under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, but is not otherwise a recipient of federal funds.
11. Papers submitted to the Court conclusively demonstrate that the parents of Baby Jane Doe, in refusing permission for said surgical procedures, made a reasonable choice among possible medical treatments, acting with the best interests of the child in mind.3
This Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1345, since the plaintiff is the United States of America, and pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, since the plaintiff's cause of action, if any, arises under a federal statute, 29 U.S.C. § 794.
Defendant University Hospital has argued that this action is barred by laches. Specifically, defendant University Hospital argues that plaintiff could have intervened in the state court proceedings, and that since plaintiff chose not to do so, it would be inequitable to permit plaintiff to now maintain this action.
We find that this action is not barred by laches. It appears from the papers submitted to the Court that the Department of Health and Human Services received a complaint concerning the University Hospital's allegedly discriminatory treatment of Baby Jane Doe almost contemporaneously with the commencement of the state court proceedings. Under such circumstances, the failure of plaintiff to intervene in the state court proceedings cannot bar plaintiff from maintaining this action.
Plaintiff's demand for access to the medical records of Baby Jane Doe is not barred by a doctor-patient evidentiary privilege. In the first place, plaintiff is simply attempting to obtain the records for its own examination at the present time, and is not attempting to have the records introduced into evidence before the Court. There is in any case no doctor-patient evidentiary privilege in a federal court proceeding except with respect to an element of a claim or defense as to which state law supplies the rule of decision. Rule 501 Fed.R.Evid.; United States v. Meagher, 531 F.2d 752 (5th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 853, 97 S.Ct....
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