St. Louis Fire Settles Public Records Suit For EMS Responses to Abortion Clinic

Posted by: Curt Varone May 25, 2016 0

The St. Louis Fire Department has settled a public records lawsuit brought by activists seeking access to information about medical responses to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.

The lawsuit was filed in 2013 under Missouri’s Sunshine Law, seeking records of emergency medical incidents at the Planned Parenthood of Greater St. Louis abortion facility located at 4251 Forest Park Avenue, Saint Louis. The named plaintiff was Deborah Myers but the suit was brought on behalf of the group Operation Rescue.

The settlement calls for the department to release a listing of every medical run to the facility without disclosing any confidential information. The department will not release anything but the “Problem” and “Priority” fields of the Medical Dispatch Agency Incident Reports.

Here is an affidavit provided by St. Louis Fire Department Captain Carolyn Moore, who serves as the keeper of the records, along with the information actually released.

Affidavit-signed-by-Moore

Calls-for-service-Jan.-1-2009-Apr-6-2016-problem-priority-only

More on the story.

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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