ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis Civil Court judge heard short arguments Monday from the Attorney General's Office and Planned Parenthood over a portion of a previous ruling involving patient records.
The judge did not make a ruling yet as of Monday night.
Bailey's office asked the judge to revise part of a decision made in their case to obtain medical records of transgender patients at Planned Parenthood, specifically minors.
Planned Parenthood does not treat anyone under the age of 16.
“Not only asking for records, but asking for detailed information, including personal identifying information of folks who need life-affirming health care, and who have had life-affirming health care, from Planned Parenthood health centers,” Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri Vice President of External Affairs Margot Riphagen said.
A different judge said in that previous decision in April that they could not order providers like Planned Parenthood to turn over certain records because they are protected by HIPAA laws.
“One of the things we also wanted to make clear to the court today is that patients should have a say in this matter, and that the court should afford them an opportunity to be heard and object if they oppose the attorney general's overreach,” Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri Interim CEO and President Richard Muniz said.
Bailey claims a court order can, in fact, require medical providers to produce records and wants the part saying the opposite to be removed from the original decision.
He said in a statement, “The law is clear that my office has the legal authority to protect children in the State of Missouri. Three courts have affirmed that idea already. I launched this investigation to obtain the truth about how this clandestine network of clinics subjected children to puberty blockers and irreversible surgery, often without parental consent. We are moving forward undeterred with our investigation into Planned Parenthood. I will not stop until all bad actors are held accountable.”
Planned Parenthood said it has yet to see Bailey justify a court order for unredacted records.
“Every time we tell you that you need to justify this it shifts, the reasons why he wants it. The last thing he said was he was investigating Medicaid fraud. Well, Medicaid doesn't cover gender-affirming care. So that is not the basis for this investigation,” Muniz said.
Muniz said this whole investigation is violating for patients and there have been no formal complaints to the Attorney General’s Office from their patients about their care.
“He's intimidating, harassing providers and patients, and the court really needs to step in and say no more,” Muniz said.
Planned Parenthood's legal team said if this motion is granted allowing records to be released to the attorney general, they want 90 days to notify patients and will also file an appeal.
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