Brady Bunch Perm
13-12-2005, 09:07
Seems like a good thing. You may not like him or his show, but you have to admit that everyone should be equal under the law. What do you think?
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/13392062.htm
Prosecutors can't question Limbaugh's doctors without charges
BY JOHN COTE
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - If Palm Beach County, Fla., prosecutors decide to charge Rush Limbaugh for his prescription drug use, they'll have to do it without questioning the conservative radio host's doctors about his medical condition, a judge ruled Monday.
Prosecutors can subpoena Limbaugh's physicians in connection with a "doctor shopping" probe, but can't ask them many meaningful questions unless the Palm Beach resident has been charged, Circuit Judge David Crow ruled.
If prosecutors charge Limbaugh with illegally obtaining overlapping prescriptions from different doctors, his physicians can be subpoenaed and fully questioned at a deposition, hearing or trial, Crow wrote.
Until then, the doctors can't be asked about "the medical condition of the patient (or) any information disclosed to the healthcare practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient," Crow wrote.
The decision restricts prosecutors' options but also outlines limits to legal protection for physician-patient communication during a criminal probe.
It came amid Limbaugh's latest effort to raise privacy concerns as prosecutors investigate whether he secretly obtained overlapping prescriptions in a 30-day period.
Limbaugh had waged a legal battle to prevent prosecutors from viewing his medical records, which were seized in late 2003. A judge in July released portions of the records to investigators.
Prosecutors are investigating prescriptions Limbaugh received from Florida and California doctors between March 2003 and September 2003, when he allegedly picked up 1,733 hydrocodone, 90 OxyContin, 50 Xanax and 40 time-release morphine pills, search warrants show.
Limbaugh, 54, has not been charged with a crime.
The latest legal skirmish arose after prosecutors sought to question one of his doctors.
It was "common sense" that state investigators would be allowed to question doctors to "authenticate the records and define what the words mean" after a court turned them over, prosecutor James Martz argued at a November hearing.
"I would be devastated, and I kid you not, to go forward with a case against Rush Limbaugh or anybody else in the state of Florida, to find out at trial ... (when) I actually get to hear what the writer intended, that we put somebody through a criminal prosecution wrongly," Martz said. Prosecutors declined to comment on Monday's ruling, calling the case an ongoing investigation.
Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, said he was pleased.
"The state cannot ask the doctors its questions posed to the court during the hearing," Black said in a statement. "We've said from the start that there was no doctor shopping, but Mr. Limbaugh should not have to give up his right to doctor-patient confidentiality to prove his innocence."
The ruling, though, rejected Black's argument that physicians and patients enjoy a legal privilege comparable to that between attorney and client, where the parties cannot be forced to disclose confidential information.
The law provides for medical confidentiality, the judge wrote, but that does not extend to the courtroom if "that information is shown to be relevant to the prosecution of a crime."
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/13392062.htm
Prosecutors can't question Limbaugh's doctors without charges
BY JOHN COTE
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - If Palm Beach County, Fla., prosecutors decide to charge Rush Limbaugh for his prescription drug use, they'll have to do it without questioning the conservative radio host's doctors about his medical condition, a judge ruled Monday.
Prosecutors can subpoena Limbaugh's physicians in connection with a "doctor shopping" probe, but can't ask them many meaningful questions unless the Palm Beach resident has been charged, Circuit Judge David Crow ruled.
If prosecutors charge Limbaugh with illegally obtaining overlapping prescriptions from different doctors, his physicians can be subpoenaed and fully questioned at a deposition, hearing or trial, Crow wrote.
Until then, the doctors can't be asked about "the medical condition of the patient (or) any information disclosed to the healthcare practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient," Crow wrote.
The decision restricts prosecutors' options but also outlines limits to legal protection for physician-patient communication during a criminal probe.
It came amid Limbaugh's latest effort to raise privacy concerns as prosecutors investigate whether he secretly obtained overlapping prescriptions in a 30-day period.
Limbaugh had waged a legal battle to prevent prosecutors from viewing his medical records, which were seized in late 2003. A judge in July released portions of the records to investigators.
Prosecutors are investigating prescriptions Limbaugh received from Florida and California doctors between March 2003 and September 2003, when he allegedly picked up 1,733 hydrocodone, 90 OxyContin, 50 Xanax and 40 time-release morphine pills, search warrants show.
Limbaugh, 54, has not been charged with a crime.
The latest legal skirmish arose after prosecutors sought to question one of his doctors.
It was "common sense" that state investigators would be allowed to question doctors to "authenticate the records and define what the words mean" after a court turned them over, prosecutor James Martz argued at a November hearing.
"I would be devastated, and I kid you not, to go forward with a case against Rush Limbaugh or anybody else in the state of Florida, to find out at trial ... (when) I actually get to hear what the writer intended, that we put somebody through a criminal prosecution wrongly," Martz said. Prosecutors declined to comment on Monday's ruling, calling the case an ongoing investigation.
Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, said he was pleased.
"The state cannot ask the doctors its questions posed to the court during the hearing," Black said in a statement. "We've said from the start that there was no doctor shopping, but Mr. Limbaugh should not have to give up his right to doctor-patient confidentiality to prove his innocence."
The ruling, though, rejected Black's argument that physicians and patients enjoy a legal privilege comparable to that between attorney and client, where the parties cannot be forced to disclose confidential information.
The law provides for medical confidentiality, the judge wrote, but that does not extend to the courtroom if "that information is shown to be relevant to the prosecution of a crime."