He looks like a man i would do business with. So i would trust him totally - i suggest you do the same

Poet:

How about telling the whole story:

Doctors claim that partial birth abortions need to stay legal because they are almost always to save the health of the mother's life. So the government asks, "Okay, prove it, hand over your records on these procedures. Go ahead and white out the names and other info. Let us see why people really had partial birth abortion."

The doctors are the ones making these claims, but they aren't willing to back it up. We're supposed to just take their word for it that partial birth abortion is almost always to save the woman's health. All he's asking for is access to their records so that the government can see if that is really the case.

This has NOTHING to do with the particular lawsuit at hand and if you believe that you are very naive (IMO).

I don't encourage a conspiracy mentality, but at least scratch beneath the surface.

Please enlighten me on the real issue of the lawsuit at hand. I guess I am naive. This article said quite clearly to me that the reality of partial birth abortion is being sought. They may confirm what doctors are claiming. How do I know that it is true if there are not documents showing case scenarios? What is the problem if there is nothing to hide? If the names and personal info are taken off the records, how is Big Brother watching?

I guess I"m naive Poet.

Have you ever...you know..actually be in part of a lawsuit? If you make an allegation then during discovery the other side has a right to see the basis for your allegation.

Ahh. The insidious part of this particular issue is that the patients have NO involvement in the lawsuit - they just happen to have been unlucky enough to seek treatment from the doctors in the lawsuit.

An analogy -

A government agency suspects your bank of fraud. They demand to see all your personal bank account records as proof of the banks claim that everything is legit. It just so happens your son was in some trouble financially and you had to bail him out for a couple months - sending him $10,000. Say your son is an accountant for a government agency, he did nothing illegal but just managed his own finances poorly - and it's "embarassing" and potentially damaging to his career. You really don't want this to get out - besides it's personal - family business.

So now you've got some government worker doing everything they can to dig up dirt on your BANK, and they see these $10,000 withdrawals, and they start digging. Hopefully you see the possibility here.

Now mutliply that by (I think) the inherently higher standard of privacy for medical issues. And again remember we are dealing with the government (I know they are benevolent).

Perhaps we have no right to privacy. Perhaps my standard is too high. Seems to be the case. It's a concern.

Poet - how would you propose to solve this case then?

BTW, I am very-prochoice so I'm not coming to this issue with an ideological axe to grind.

A group of abortion doctors file suit to try to get the late term abortion law thrown out. They assert that late term abortions are to save the health of the mother.

The government responds, "Okay, prove it. Let's see your records, go ahead and white out any patient info, let's just see the actual reasons why the abortion was performed."

Instead of complying they throw up a strawman - "Oh we can't, that would violate our patient's privacy."

Are we supposed to just take these doctors at their word?

Can I answer - it's NP complete.

One court sided with the hospitals, one court sided against.

As I understand it - there is some precedent in disallowing private medical information to be shared in certain court cases. The motivation being that it would discourage people from seeking medical help which is.. well, rather important and not something the government should discourage.

On the other hand, insurance agencies require complete access to medical information.

Perhaps the mythical "neutral third party" eh ?

In any court case the person making the allegation is subject to discovery to find the basis of their allegation. 

Please feel free to educate me on how a patient's privacy is being violated if all the details of that patient are removed leaving only the particulars of their case.