Release Katrina hospital deaths file, Louisiana judge says

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Source: CNN

(CNN) -- A Louisiana judge has ordered prosecutors to release their files on the deaths of patients at a New Orleans hospital in the days following Hurricane Katrina, finding that no related legal cases are in the works.

Baton Rouge District Judge Donald Johnson ruled that investigators' records of the Memorial Medical Center deaths don't involve "criminal litigation which is either pending or which can be reasonably anticipated," so they have to be disclosed under state open records laws. It's the second such order by a state judge, following a 2007 decision that was vacated by an appeals court.

Hospital workers identified only as John and Jane Doe had sued to block the public release of the file, claiming the records are covered by grand jury secrecy rules, that they should have been considered confidential informants and that releasing the documents would violate their privacy. CNN and the New Orleans Times-Picayune are among the parties to the lawsuit, which also included state and local prosecutors.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/09/louisiana.katrina.hospital.deaths/index.html