Ex-Doctor Dumps Abortion Files In Kansas Recycling Bin

TOPEKA, Kan. — A former Kansas abortion provider isn't likely to face criminal charges for discarding hundreds of patients' private medical records in a recycling bin outside an elementary school, but anti-abortion lawmakers called Tuesday for the state Legislature to investigate.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said he doesn't expect to pursue a criminal case against Krishna Rajanna, who confirmed that he left records from Affordable Medical and Surgical Services in a school recycling bin blocks from his home in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. The Kansas City, Kan., clinic closed in 2005, shortly after the State Board of Healing Arts, which regulates physicians, revoked Rajanna's Kansas medical license.

Howe said his office will examine whether Rajanna's actions violated state consumer protection laws, which are enforced through civil lawsuits, and it may contact federal officials about potential violations of patient privacy laws.

Meanwhile, the Board of Healing Arts' general counsel said it will consider going to court to have an outside custodian take possession of any remaining records from the clinic. Rajanna told The Associated Press he still has documents stored in his home.

Several lawmakers who oppose abortion said the Legislature should investigate to determine whether Kansas law, which requires providers to keep patients' records for at least 10 years, adequately protects privacy when patient records are discarded or adequately punishes providers who dispose of documents improperly.

"It definitely needs to be investigated," said House Majority Leader Arlen Siegfreid, an Olathe Republican.

Rajanna said when he discarded the documents Friday in the recycling bin, he expected it to be emptied quickly.

"We could burn them up, I suppose, but that just puts more carbon into the air," he said. "Recycling would be the better way."

The documents were discovered Saturday by a woman who was dumping materials for recycling. She contacted local police, who initially didn't respond, then her daughter, a nurse. The daughter contacted The Kansas City Star, which reported their discovery ( ). http://bit.ly/GVUz7Z

The Star reported that the woman found more than 1,000 records, and Rajanna confirmed that he left about that number in the bin. The Star said the records contained names, birth dates, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and the patients' health histories, including whether any abortions were performed, for patients from almost every county in the Kansas City area and beyond, from Topeka to Freeman, Mo.

Rajanna's actions were condemned by advocates on both sides of the abortion debate. In recent years, Kansas has seen intense legal and political disputes over whether giving authorities access to information in medical records for investigations of providers would violate patients' privacy.

But Howe said, "We don't believe at this point, based on the information that we have, any criminal charges will be filed."

Rajanna did not return a telephone message left at his home Tuesday afternoon, seeking a response to Howe's statements and legislators' comments.

The Star reported that after editors consulted with an attorney, one of its reporters gathered up the documents from the recycling bin and transported them by car to the newspaper's offices in downtown Kansas City, Mo., where they were kept in a locked cabinet, with access limited to reporters and editors working on its story.

The Star said it collected and secured the records to protect patients' privacy and recorded no personal information. It later turned the documents over to the Board of Healing Arts.

Hundreds of the records were dated after March 2002, The Star reported. Rajanna said he has been keeping his files for 10 years, as required by law, and was discarding ones older than that. He also suggested the materials should have remained in the recycling bin for disposal.

"This was the first time that I'd used it," Rajanna said.

The Board of Healing Arts revoked Rajanna's license in 2005 after fining or disciplining him four times since 2000. An inspector who made two surprise visits to his clinic in 2005 reported the facility was unclean and that it kept syringes of medications in an unlocked refrigerator. The inspector also reported finding a dead mouse.

Kelli Stevens, the board's general counsel, said because Rajanna is no longer a licensed physician, the board's jurisdiction over him is limited, though he still has legal obligations to keep medical records confidential. She said the board's main concern now is the proper disposal of older records and the security of records less than 10 years old.

"It's a very odd position to be in," she said. "There's a little bit of a gap in the law."

Sen. Pete Brungardt, a Salina Republican and abortion rights supporter, was skeptical of the need for legislators to step in, but Siegfreid said they need to consider whether Kansas laws should be strengthened.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican who opposes abortion, said, "On its face, it's concerning."

___

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com

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Comments

[Joseph J Schuler]

07:35 PM on 03/28/2012

Could be he was doing his former patients a big favor. If the Kansas witch hunters cant find abortion patient records they will not be able to pursue their quarry. Fundies have no problem with retroactive crime, it was in there minds, such as they are, still a sin.

[ver1tas]

04:57 PM on 03/28/2012

Gee, I wonder why his medical license was revoked.

"We could burn them up, I suppose, but that just puts more carbon into the air," he said. "Recycling would be the better way."

& after this comment, I wonder how he ever obtained his medical license to begin with. Does he realize he can SHRED paper, THEN recycle? If Dr's are this 'toopid, humankind is doomed.

[Joseph J Schuler]

07:37 PM on 03/28/2012

How do you know they werent't shredded? The article only says he left them there. It doesn't mention what condition they were in.

[Diane Smith Box]

08:50 PM on 03/28/2012

It looks like it is common sense .. who would go through the recycle bin and put together tiny pieces to make a page big enough to read .Im almost positive that it was not recycled first....:)

[ver1tas]

10:46 PM on 03/28/2012

So you mean to tell me a woman saw a bunch of shredded paper in a trash can and decided to spend the next 1000 hours piecing shreds together to figure out what it is, and THEN call the police?

Did I really just have to even say that?

[ver1tas]

04:55 PM on 03/28/2012

"The documents were discovered Saturday by a woman who was dumping materials for recycling. She contacted local police, who initially didn't respond, then her daughter, a nurse. The daughter contacted The Kansas City Star, which reported their discovery ( )."

WHO writes these articles and how old are they?!

[DanielSC]

04:47 PM on 03/28/2012

"We could burn them up, I suppose, but that just puts more carbon into the air," he said. "Recycling would be the better way." ... What a incompetent professional, I think I am glad he is no longer practicing medicine!

[June25]

11:01 AM on 03/28/2012

I thought she was being incredibly sincere she reported the facts and did not exploit the situation by using the paperwork.

[Nicholas Hylton]

10:19 AM on 03/28/2012

Documents with names, medical histories, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and telephone numbers?? This is positively screams doctor-patient confidentiality violations. If nothing else, the information was a potential gold mine for any identity thief doing their usual rounds of dumpster diving recycling bin rummaging.

All of a sudden he sees the wisdom of recycling and CO2 emissions reduction?? That is an excuse 'Dr. Nick Riviera' (from The Simpsons) would use! He obviously still has a beef with the medical authorities in Kansas and his reasoning is a veritable mountain of stinking cynical BS.
I hope he gets more than a slap on the wrist.

[Elise Walker]

03:05 AM on 03/28/2012

Dude, shred much?

[LKK]

01:48 AM on 03/28/2012

Moron and Cheap..he used school dumpsters? ok,I'll bite, maybe he thought they wouldn't be gone through as quickly as those outside his home/office..but I worked in healthcare for some time and let me tell you,this is the tip of the iceburg. They should have been shredded, and let's keep the actual abortion out of it because it's medical privacy. There does need to be strict legislation. I've seen drug reps given names by the sheet at hospitals (that's a HPPA exclusion you know, even your pharmacy can give out info), I've seen equipment reps perform procedures when the patient is under the assummption it is the doc who will be manning the ship start to finish. I've seen patients treated with the wrong medications because the names on charts were never double checked with the patient, their wristband or family and medical records are not private. Any employee with access to the system can call in and get test results and blab it to everyone before the patient even knows at times, in the hospital I worked at every department got a daily list of surgical patients and their procedures and the doctors, etc..please do tell why does the sales department need to know who is having their nasal polyps removed...it never ends. Again, the guy is a moron who was too lazy or cheap to invest in a shredding service and what is scary is he's one of many.

[ver1tas]

04:59 PM on 03/28/2012

"I've seen drug reps given names by the sheet at hospitals"

What does this mean, I don't understand this sentence.. I try to stay away from hospitals as much as I can :p

[LKK]

05:48 PM on 03/28/2012

Can't say I blame you..hospitals are germy nasty places..lol...what I meant was drug and equipment reps get patient data by the spreadsheets at hospitals.

Or at least when I worked at one, from new mothers so companies could pitch their latest and greatest forumula, heart and diabetic patients, to what drugs patients were taking at the pharmacy so your info went into a nice data bank for furture marketing.

If you are ever in the hospital for a specific procedure then start getting mail for products or meds that have anything at all to do with that part of your body, odds are they got your name from he hospital or even your local pharmacy.

[Moose Intheoc]

01:31 AM on 03/28/2012

Oh he is going to get it big from the feds for this. HIPAA violations are taken very seriously, especially when it come to private patient health history or anything that could identify who the patient is.

I think it per incident, which means 1 file = 1 incident. You can get upset for losing your license but man, don't lose your head and do something so irresponsible.

[Kire]

01:12 AM on 03/28/2012

There could be a civil suit, but only one or more of the people whose names are in the files would have grounds to file it, I think.

[Robin Terrace]

10:58 PM on 03/27/2012

He obviously violated federal HIPAA laws. That info is confidential and must be shredded by an approved contractor.

[retromoderne]

08:36 PM on 03/27/2012

"Sen. Pete Brungardt, a Salina Republican and abortion rights supporter,"

Wow! In Kansas? Didn't know there were any of those.

[Brigette]

06:37 PM on 03/27/2012

They're not upset about a potential security risk to the patients, they're upset they may not be able to keep tabs on women who have had abortions. Sick.

[Maurice D Randle]

05:44 PM on 03/27/2012

I'm glad this idiot is out of practice! If you don't have the competence to do BASIC upkeep of your facility or the common sense to dispose of paper records properly he DEFINITELY doesn't need to be in a position where he's making decisions about anybody's health!

[Luuke]

10:28 PM on 03/28/2012

In case of abortions I don't think he's making any decisions...He's just executing them....

[Gabe A Davis]

05:28 PM on 03/27/2012

"We could burn them up, I suppose, but that just puts more carbon into the air"

LOL. Let's put them in the dumpster. So we don't cause the earth to explode.