Greetings Relatives/Frens/Humans, I tried looking for a news story that would not need a subscription to read, but I could not find one. The following news story, “Feds Must Release IHS Doctor Abuse Report, 2nd Circ. says,” was posted by Law360, but a subscription is needed to read the entire story.
Feds Must Release IHS Doctor Abuse Report, 2nd Circ. Says – The Second Circuit in a precedential opinion has upheld bids by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to force the federal government to turn over a report detailing the sexual abuse committed by a former Indian Health Service pediatrician against Native American children.
According to the “IHS Doctor Abuse Report,”
“The Indian Health Service (IHS) provides health care for over 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) who are members or descendants of federally recognized tribes. According to IHS, its mission is to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of AI/ANs to the highest level. IHS provides health care services to AI/ANs either directly through a system of federally operated IHS facilities or indirectly through facilities that are operated by tribes or others. As of July 2020, IHS, tribes, and tribal organizations operated 46 hospitals and 330 health centers—of which 24 hospitals and 51 health centers were federally operated IHS facilities.”
With nearly 5 million outpatient visits in fiscal year 2018, federally operated IHS facilities provide mostly primary and emergency care services and are located in 10 of IHS’s 12 areas. As of December 31, 2019, IHS reported that more than 5,500 providers served across these areas—of which more than 4,300 were federal civilian providers and more than 800 were Commissioned Corps providers. Recent cases of alleged and confirmed misconduct and substandard
performance by IHS providers have raised questions about IHS’s ability to protect the AI/AN population from sexual abuse and harm. For example, the convictions of a former IHS pediatrician who sexually abused American Indian youth for decades highlights the vulnerability of some IHS patients.5 In addition, instances of alleged provider misconduct that have occurred since 2018 at federally operated facilities have included travel fraud, bringing a weapon onsite, and physical and sexual assaults on other employees and patients. Further, Congress has questioned the extent to which IHS uses transfers, duty reassignments, and administrative leave in lieu of addressing employee misconduct and performance issues.”
But I did locate the IHS Doctor Abuse Report:
