Constitutional Law

Supreme Court won't open Kan. pain-Rx case files

By By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court has turned down a request to make public a national patient advocate's appeal in the case of a Kansas doctor linked to dozens of patient-overdose deaths.

The Court today refused to allow the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to intervene in Siobhan Reynolds' case.

The court filings and proceedings in Reynolds' case have been sealed by federal district court in Kansas and in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Reporters Committee wanted to intervene so it could ask the Court to make the papers open to the public. But the high court said only redacted copies would be made public.

The Reporters Committee said news reports had disclosed some details of the case after Reynolds spoke to the news media. The case involves "witness challenges to subpoenas issued in connection with a grand jury investigation" of pain-medicine prescriptions.

Reynolds and her organization, the Pain Relief Network, are the subject of the investigation because of her involvement with Linda and Dr. Stephen Schneider. The Schneiders have been convicted of conspiring to profit by illegally prescribing painkillers to dozens of patients, who later died.

Concerning the sealed court records, the Reporters Committee said, "Such blanket secrecy conflicts not only with the long-recognized preference for open and public justice, but also with past Supreme Court practice."

The First Amendment Center Online contributed to this report.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on October 17, 2010 (boomark / email).