A few years back, there was a trend among legislators to change laws regarding public records in a way they claimed was meant to better protect victims, especially children and particularly vulnerable older victims. The interpretation of those laws, however, has turned out to protect not the victims, but those who may have committed crimes (or at the very least been negligent) against those victims.
When news organizations, advocacy groups or even other government bodies request documents that might help them better understand the details of incidents that, for example, result in the death of a young girl whose living situation was already known to child protective services, they are often met with “Oh, we can’t give you those. It’s against the law … you know … for the children.”
The thinly veiled attempts at self-preservation are nauseating.
Disability Rights Ohio is the federally designated Protection and Advocacy System in the state, and has been granted the authority to investigate cases in which there is suspected maltreatment of residents with disabilities at treatment facilities.
But, according to a report by WCMH, it is embroiled in a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health, which it accuses of withholding records regarding alleged abuse and neglect in its facilities.
In one of those cases, a patient died, reportedly because the patient had access to what should have been a prohibited plastic bag, and seems to have been left unattended long enough to place it over their face. In other cases, involving children with disabilities, there are accusations of the use of “prohibited chemical restraints,” sexual assault, staff abuse, overreliance on medications that are dangerous to young people and high suicide rates.
Rather than give Disability Rights Ohio the information it needs to properly investigate these cases — perhaps to both ensure suitable consequences if there were crimes committed, and to recommend measures that might prevent such tragedies in the future — the Department of Behavior Health responded this way, according to the WCMH report:
“While we value and respect the role of the protection and advocacy system, we must exercise our statutory authority carefully to ensure compliance with applicable privacy laws,” the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health said in a statement. “We take seriously our dual role of safeguarding patients’ rights and protecting the public, and our responses to records requests are guided by this balance.”
What kind of balance is it when state agencies let their pretense of protecting privacy outweigh their duty to protect not just patients’ rights, but the patients themselves?
Sticking to the letter of the law in the name of self-preservation is not a good look, when children and other vulnerable patients are involved. The state knows perfectly well it can deliver those records in a way that gives the advocacy organization the information it needs AND protects patient privacy (if that is genuinely their priority).
Surely the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio will understand that, and order Disability Right Ohio be given access to the records they are seeking, immediately.
Hence then, the article about who are legislators actually protecting was published today ( ) and is available on TribToday ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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