Texas sent agents to Planned Parenthood facilities on Thursday seeking documents, the group said, calling it a "politically motivated" move that comes on the heels of the state's Republican leaders barring it from receiving Medicaid money.
Members of the Texas Office of the Inspector General made unannounced visits at Planned Parenthood health centers in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, staying in some cases for several hours and giving Planned Parenthood 24 hours to deliver thousands of pages of documents stored at its facilities across the state, the organization said.
The Inspector General Office declined to comment, as did health officials. Inspector General agents were seen on local news reports entering a Planned Parenthood facility in San Antonio.
Texas, the most populous Republican-controlled U.S. state, said it would launch a probe of Planned Parenthood after the release of videos in July by anti-abortion activist group Center for Medical Progress in which a Planned Parenthood official is seen talking about transactions involving fetal tissue.
“We believe this is a fishing expedition," Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region Chief Executive Officer Ken Lambrecht told a news conference in Austin, calling the request "politically motivated."
Well this is just ridiculous.
Included among the "thousands of pages of documents" that these officials are demanding will be patient files and employee addresses.
So now these "officials" are wasting taxpayer money rifling through confidential information while engaged a wild goose chase inspired by doctored videos.
Good job Texas, for a moment there I thought that Florida might move ahead of you in the dumbest state in the union sweepstakes.
I'd actually be happy about this if I thought, for an instant, that when they find no wrongdoing that would be the end of it.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness we are no longer a "graphic your pitchfork and torch" vigilante society....
ReplyDeleteTX keeps getting weirder. I'm thinking that if they release any patient files to the media or publish them in any way, they might get sued. Why isn't the ACLU in on this?
ReplyDeleteTexas Is So Insane It's Now Slang For 'Crazy' In Norway
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-means-crazy-in-norway-slang_5627eb51e4b02f6a900f69bc
Can they legally get patient records if no legal crime has been committed? Tissue and organ donation is not a crime.
ReplyDeleteActually, Ohio has become about as insane as Texas and Florida.
ReplyDeleteKristaalnacht, Texas style.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
Deletethe word "Texas" is being used in Scandinavia in place of "crazy". This is true and Florida has competition.
ReplyDeleteHow long before the patient and employee info gets 'leaked'?
ReplyDeleteAnd WTF IOWA???
ReplyDeleteWhat The Hell Is The Matter With Iowa?
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/10/wtf-matter-iowa
The sad part is that it is their own children, their own daughters and sisters and wives, who will bear the brunt of the human suffering they are intent on inflicting on the public.
ReplyDeleteThe only true statement in that bible of theirs is the one that says "they know not what they do."
Oh wait, there's one other thing in there that rings true. It goes something like this: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man/woman, I put the ways of childhood behind." 1 Cor. 13:11
Too bad they don't actually read the thing, they just use it to inflict damage and express hate, kind of like the ammo in their guns.
PS. I added the "/woman" above. The idiots who wrote the bible, of course, would never do that.
Well, then maybe their mothers, wives and daughters should start voting the bastards out of office. I'm sure they outnumber the right wing crazies.
DeleteIsn't this a violation of HIPPA? Could not every person who had records STOLEN by the state of TX sue the shit out of them in federal court?
ReplyDeleteIsn't this a violation of HIPPA?
DeleteNot to be confused with HIPAA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_Accountability_Act
My thoughts exactly.
DeleteI hope the Justice Department is all over this.
Why yes, yes it is.
Delete"The Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information; the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information; the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, which requires covered entities and business associates to provide notification following a breach of unsecured protected health information; and the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protect identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety. "
Senator Dave Vitter Prostitute Baby Daddy Abortion Adoption totally off the rails wtf update.
ReplyDeleteFirst ICYMI: There was more on the old Diaper Dave Vitter hanging with prostitute allegations this week. Did Vitter have a child with a prostitute as is now alleged? Which was then placed for adopted instead of aborted like Diaper Dave allegedly wanted? http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/david-vitter-louisiana-governors-race-lovechild-allegation
Now yesterday the SHTF! http://crooksandliars.com/2015/10/vitter-files-its-getting-weirder-minute
A texASS private investigator has been arrested and charged with a FELONY while apparently working for the Vitter campaign. While he was recording Sheriff Normand who just happens to be a Republican enemy of Vitter!
"A little background. Normand’s predecessor and mentor Harry Lee, the Chinese Cowboy Sheriff, and Vitter were bitter enemies. Actually, enemy is not a strong enough word: Harry HATED Bitter Vitter and the feeling was mutual. It looks as if Vitter’s love child may exist and that Normand has the goods on Diaper Dave. This is the craziest damn story I’ve ever heard. This makes the Duke-Edwards-Roemer race from hell in 1991 look normal"
True dat!
What a collection of whack jobs! I have no idea what's true and what's not, but this shit is a Grisham movie either way.
Update: TPM has the Vitter campaign's statement. Not spying on the Sheriff, spying on a major donor to a Vitter opponent!
Deletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-vitter-newell-normand-louisiana-governor-race
"Vitter's campaign gave a statement to NOLA.com: "This person (Frenzel) works for a firm that we hired to do research, all within the bounds of the law. This includes John Bel Edwards' business associate and major donor, and his relationship with the John Bel Edwards campaign. It has nothing to do with Newell Normand.""
Alrighty then!
I look at that photo and all I see is a group of Fox News sheep, that are incapable of doing their own research.
ReplyDeleteAnd the people in that photo are allowed to vote.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for the women whose names these folks will now have access too - that had abortions specifically.
ReplyDeleteI'd sue the Hell out of that Governor of Texas if anything rash happened to me (were I a patient!) due to their access to the records in those various offices.
Well, of course they will make them part of the public record so that some asshat can then publicly shame them for having an abortion.
DeleteThat is the entire point.
And it is what makes the State of Texas in violation of Federal patient privacy laws.
Leave it to Texas, always number one at stirring up number two on any legal topic. I fear for the poor, Texas is a huge state, and the poor can't afford to be forced to get their health care in another state. I think it's time to kick Texas out of the union, seriously.
ReplyDeleteI would think that PP has the right to deny examination of patient records due to doctor/patient confidentiality. In addition, I don't think the employees should have to turn over their personal information either. Would any legal eagles weigh in on the legal ramifications if PP just refused to cooperate?
ReplyDeleteWell, yeah.
DeleteBut you better believe the officials that arrived were either armed or they had armed police or state troopers with them.
Nothing like a loaded gun to press your point, even if what you are demanding is totally illegal.
Ooo, that is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
ReplyDeletePatient files? I don't believe they have a right to patient files without a warrant specifying exactly what they are looking for.
This has illegal search and seizure written all over it.
Now who is going to step up to the plate and sue the state?