Whistleblower's files sought in CDC shredding case
A federal judge has denied a majority of the state’s request for a trove of medical records held by the former state worker who has filed the whistleblower lawsuit over the shredding of public documents by the Maine Center for Disease and Prevention.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the Maine Department of Health and Human Service’s request is part of the whistleblower lawsuit started by Sharon Leahy-Lind, a former CDC worker.
Leahy-Lind has alleged that she was bullied and harassed by supervisors when she refused orders to destroy public records that had justified $4.7 million in awards for regional health programs. She said the supervisors’ actions had caused her emotional distress.
Leahy-Lind’s attorney said the state’s request for records from doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists was overly broad and intrusive, and that it was likely an attempt to portray the former CDC worker as unstable.
John H. Rich III, a federal magistrate judge, denied most of the state’s requests, calling them irrelevant to the case. But he ordered Leahy-Lind to provide medical and mental health records since 2011 in relation to her claims of emotional distress against her former supervisors.
The DHHS is being represented Fisher and Phillips of Portland, a firm that was appointed by the court after two lawyers from the Maine Attorney General’s Office withdrew from the case, citing an unanticipated development.
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