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Citing Privacy, New York Hospital Fails to Report Shooting of Football Star

By David Badertscher, PLL

<p><font size="2"><strong>Source: </strong><em>Crime and Justice News, </em>December 2, 2008.</font></p> <p><font size="2">"A New York hospital failed to notify police when Giants receiver Plaxico Burress arrived there early Saturday morning with a gunshot wound to his thigh, despite a state law requiring a doctor or hospital to report such violence to the authorities "at once," reports the New York Times. As a result, it took police detectives more than 13 hours to learn that Burress had been taken to the hospital, NewYork- Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, after he accidentally shot himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub. The shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. at the Latin Quarter, a Manhattan nightclub, and Burress arrived at the hospital at 2:04 a.m". </font></p> <p><font size="2">"Hours later, when detectives heard news reports about the shooting, they began contacting hospitals. The detectives arrived at the hospital at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, after Burress had been discharged. A hospital administrator initially declined to give information to the detectives, citing federal privacy statutes. Police said a state law supercedes the federal statute. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has made stemming gun violence a priority, called for criminal charges against the hospital, which suspended the staff member responsible for failing to report the shooting. "</font></p> <p><a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0013Q2bi-VdIQxB0b-QJRUSJHK-9633872H_oeYMkdt7qLytcSIn6QJd9FYdmPUwVJu6UgaqUU1-g4QgQVWa10Ch0Dt6wtSFzS9UAUmxF-B9HXqwgJw25vm-NjWPpgtkLiVBhklmtWDqX33Ph73RE2HYPY7R_gnYeqnmF0A_JZxQfRuPpNHVMr5nVO9nt3GRaVl" shape="rect" color="#0000FF" target="_blank"><font size="2">New York Times</font></a></p>

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on December 02, 2008 (boomark / email).