Opinion ID: 2377101
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Post -Alpha Treatment of Patient Records

Text: After the Alpha decision, Judge Anderson's review of the Inquisition's legal basis, and the redactions that followed, Kline and his staff received CHPP patient records for copying on October 24, 2006. We described some of what happened in our Comprehensive Health opinion: Shortly after the records were given to Kline, he and two of his subordinates, lawyers [Eric] Rucker and Stephen Maxwell, presented Judge Anderson with a summary of the records that Kline wanted to disclose publicly. Kline was in the final days of a highly contentious political race to retain his position; his opponent was then Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison. According to Judge Anderson, Klinewho had argued unsuccessfully to Judge Anderson while Alpha was pending before this court that the judge should not subject Kline to the nondisclosure provision in the subpoenas directed to the clinicstook an `aggressive' position on the summary and his potential use of it. In Judge Anderson's view, Kline appeared somewhat desperate to counter charges advanced by Morrison in the campaign. Kline also told Judge Anderson that he did not believe the judge could control what an attorney general disclosed to the public. Regardless of the merit or lack of merit of that view, Judge Anderson warned Kline that he would have trouble persuading Judge Anderson to rule in his favor on any future inquisition issues if he publicly disclosed information from the patient records. At no point in this discussion with Judge Anderson did Kline, Rucker, or Maxwell divulge any plans for television or other public appearances concerning the inquisition or its results. On November 3, 2006, the Friday before election day and before Kline's subordinates returned the originals of the redacted records to Judge Anderson, Kline was a guest on a nationally televised program, `The O'Reilly Factor.' During the broadcast, host Bill O'Reilly suggested that O'Reilly had been made privy to the contents of the redacted records. Kline later testified that he `certainly' considered his appearance on O'Reilly's show to be appropriate despite this court's cautionary language about publicity in Alpha and apparently despite Judge Anderson's insistence that Kline and his subordinates were bound by the subpoenas' nondisclosure provision. Kline testified that he had decided to appear on the O'Reilly program because his office had been inundated with calls about his intentions, and he wanted to alleviate fears that his office was seeking identities of patients. Kline's appearance on `The O'Reilly Factor' prompted the clinics to press Judge Anderson to hold Kline in contempt before election day. They also filed [the publicity mandamus action under seal] with this court on the day before election day, November 6, 2006, seeking a stay of the inquisition, sealing of the records from Kline's office, and deposit of the records with a special prosecutor or master appointed to investigate any leak of information from, or other mishandling of, the records. Morrison defeated Kline in the attorney general's race. Approximately 2 weeks after the election, Judge Anderson declined to launch contempt proceedings against Kline in connection with the O'Reilly show. Although Judge Anderson would later testify that he was very upset with Kline for putting himself in a position allowing O'Reilly to claim he had seen the redacted patient records, Judge Anderson had concluded after questioning Kline, Maxwell, and Kline investigator Tom Williams under oath that Kline had not given the records to O'Reilly, if, in fact, O'Reilly had seen them at all. We denied the clinic's November 6 petition for writ of mandamus on November 30, 2006. During the 2 weeks after the elections, Kline, Rucker, Maxwell, and Williams shared information from the redacted patient records and other inquisition results with at least three potential medical experts, including Dr. Richard Gilmartin, a pediatric neurologist from Wichita, and Dr. Paul McHugh, a psychiatrist from Baltimore, Maryland. Rucker had obtained Gilmartin's name from a representative of Kansans for Life; he would later testify that he may have told the representative about the nature of the records. Kline had obtained McHugh's name from a representative of Women Influencing the Nation. Both Kansans for Life and Women Influencing the Nation are anti-abortion advocacy organizations. The record before us reflects that Gilmartin took no notes and that no patient records were left with him. Maxwell and Williams evidently left copies of patient records and other inquisition documents with McHugh. These other documents included pregnancy termination information obtained from [KDHE,] which, when cross-referenced to patient records and/or other sources mined by Kline and his subordinates during the inquisition, enabled Kline to identify patients by name. The record reflects that the time period when Kline and his subordinates were seeking the cross-reference data was before or during the pendency of Alpha. The record is unclear on exactly when McHugh returned the records left with him or whether he first made copies before returning the set he had been given. Judge Anderson had not required Kline or his subordinates to obtain confidentiality agreements from any persons to whom the records themselves or information within them was disseminated; and Kline and his subordinates did not take this step on their own. On December 11, 2006, Republican precinct committee members in Johnson County selected Kline to complete Morrison's term as Johnson County District Attorney, once Morrison was sworn in as Attorney General on January 8, 2007. It was in this time frame that Kline and Maxwell conversed with Judge Anderson about Kline's desire to send the patient records produced by the clinics in the inquisition to other prosecutors, specifically mentioning Shawnee, Sedgwick, and Johnson Counties. According to Judge Anderson, Kline and Maxwell did not tell him how this would be accomplished; they did not tell him that the records would not be received in Johnson County until Kline had taken office there; they did not tell him that they also would send the records from WHCS, a clinic in Sedgwick County, to Johnson County. Kline did tell Judge Anderson that the transformation of his Attorney General inquisition into a Johnson County District Attorney investigation would be `seamless.' Judge Anderson would eventually testify that, during one of his conversations with Maxwell about the movement of patient records to Johnson County, he told Maxwell, `Just be sure that you do that in a very orderly and regular sort of way.' Shortly before leaving the Attorney General's office, on December 20, 2006, Kline filed charges in Sedgwick County against Dr. George Tiller of [Women's Health Care Services of Wichita, P.A. (WHCS) ]. Kline supported the charges with an affidavit from McHugh, an affidavit from Williams, and information from the redacted patient records. The following day, District Judge Paul Clark dismissed the Sedgwick County charges at the request of Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston. On December 27 or 28, 2006, Kline announced that, as Attorney General, he would appoint Wichita lawyer and anti-abortion activist Donald McKinney as a special prosecutor. The clinics filed a joint motion for a protective order with Judge Anderson, seeking to ensure that the patient records produced in the inquisition would remain with Judge Anderson and in the Attorney General's office on Kline's exit from that office. The record reflects that Judge Anderson received this motion on Wednesday, January 3, 2007, but he did not rule on it immediately. Judge Anderson did, however, tell Maxwell that he wanted a full and accurate written report on where all copies of the patient records were as of the time of the transition between Kline and Morrison at the Attorney General's office. Although Kline later testified that he directed Rucker to transport the records from the Attorney General's office to Johnson County in mid-December 2006, the actual physical movement of the records did not begin until the Friday before Morrison was sworn in as Attorney General, January 5, 2007, and did not end until Kline had been in office as the Johnson County District Attorney for several weeks. In the intervening time, the patient records were stored in more than one automobile; in Maxwell's residence; and, from January 8, 2007, until mid-February 2007, in the dining room of an apartment of another investigator, Jared Reed. The several weeks that the records sat in Reed's dining room included the day that elapsed between the point when Reed's employment with Kline's Attorney General's office ended and the point when his employment by Kline's Johnson County District Attorney's office began. On Friday, January 5, 2007, the same day that Rucker signed a 6-month contract with McKinney, McKinney's fees to be funded by up to $25,000, apparently from the budget of the Attorney General's office, Williams removed all of the patient records obtained through the inquisition from the Attorney General's office, along with additional investigation materials and records obtained from other agencies, and placed them in a state-owned vehicle. This Friday was to be Maxwell's last day of work for the Attorney General's office. The following day, Saturday, January 6, Williams delivered the records and other materials to Maxwell's residence. At Maxwell's residence that day, Maxwell and Williams sorted the records for distribution to various places. At some point that day, Williams contacted Reed, who came to Maxwell's residence and witnessed this process. Maxwell also was preparing a Status and Disposition Report, the written report Judge Anderson requested. The patient records and other materials were then locked in the trunk of a state-owned vehicle Williams was driving. Williams returned a set of materials to the Attorney General's office, not including any CHPP or WHCS patient records, and left the rest of the materials sorted earlier at Maxwell's house in the vehicle. The vehicle spent the rest of that weekend parked in a secure state parking lot. Shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday, January 8, 2007, the day Morrison was to be sworn in as Attorney General and Kline sworn in as Johnson County District Attorney, Williams and Reed met at the Shawnee County courthouse. They left five boxes of investigation materials at Judge Anderson's chambers, as well as a copy of the Status and Disposition Report. Williams and Reed also left several boxes of materials, including patient records, at Shawnee County District Attorney Robert D. Hecht's office. After these two distributions had been accomplished, Williams received a telephone call from Rucker, who had spoken to Kline that morning before Kline was sworn in as Johnson County District Attorney. Kline had called Rucker to make sure that the patient records would be available in Johnson County and told Rucker for the first time that the materials going there needed to include records from WHCS as well as from CHPP. Kline indicated to Rucker that Judge Anderson had given permission for this to occur. Rucker, in turn, told Williams that the records headed for Johnson County needed to include the records from WHCS as well as CHPP. Williams expressed surprise and displeasure with what he apparently viewed as a last-minute change in his instructions and because the Status and Disposition Report produced and signed by Maxwell and left earlier that morning with Judge Anderson did not state that the WHCS records would go to the Johnson County District Attorney's office. According to Williams, Rucker told him that Kline had nevertheless ordered this action and that Kline had spoken to Judge Anderson about it. Williams asked for written confirmation of this order. After the call from Rucker, Williams and Reed had to retrieve the patient records that had already been left at Hecht's office. On Rucker's instruction, they then took the records to a downtown Topeka photocopy store. Although Reed's and Williams' recollections vary slightly, apparently Reed began making copies of the WHCS records for use by Kline as Johnson County District Attorney (at the expense of the Attorney General's office) while Williams returned the state automobile they had been using. After the copying was completed, Williams and Reed returned the set meant for Hecht to his office. All of the material intended for the Johnson County District Attorney's office was then transported in Reed's personal automobile and delivered to Reed's apartment, where it was placed in his dining room. According to the record, at 3:43 that afternoon, several hours after all of the distribution steps were completed and Morrison had been sworn in as Attorney General, in apparent compliance with Williams' request for written confirmation of the earlier order, Rucker sent an electronic mail to Williams. It stated: `Per the direction of AG Kline, I am directing you to copy all medical files and AG Kline is directing the copies be delivered ... to the District Attorney for the 10th Judicial District before noon ... K. Rucker Chief Deputy Attorney General (sent at 9:30 am)[.]' Although Kline's subordinates had placed at least three boxes of materials connected to the inquisition at the Attorney General's office before they left it, the precise content of these boxes cannot be determined at this stage because no specific inventory of them was created at the time. We understand, however, as mentioned above, that the boxes contained no copies of the patient records obtained from CHPP or WHCS. 287 Kan. at 378-84, 197 P.3d 370. Judge Anderson's Response filed in the publicity mandamus action in this court included expressions of his views on the validity of Kline's legal theories regarding inadequate record-keeping and reporting by CHPP. These opinions apparently arose out of the judge's observations regarding the redacted patient records as produced. Per Alpha, Judge Anderson had appointed Topeka lawyer Steven W. Cavanaugh as special counsel for adult patients and guardian ad litem for minor patients whose records were sought in the Inquisition to protect against release of sensitive, confidential, and privileged information which is not relevant to the medical procedure and/or the criminal investigation and to supervise the reproduction and release of copies of all medical records. The attachments to Judge Anderson's response in the publicity mandamus action included three pieces of June and July 2006 correspondence between Cavanaugh and CHPP counsel concerning the types of information that could be redacted from patient records. Judge Anderson also attached a November 8, 2006, Cavanaugh affidavit regarding the redaction of the patient records.