This is one of those “balancing” situations.
Phoebe Suy reports:
Baylor lost its fought to prevent the disclosure of certain confidential medical and counseling records on Monday when U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman ordered the university to disclose information under limited conditions.
“The issues at stake in this action are indisputably important, and data regarding reports of sexual assault will play an important role in resolving Plaintiffs’ heightened-risk claims,” Pitman wrote in the order.
Pitman further stated it would be “virtually impossible” for the plaintiffs, 10 women who allege the university mishandled their sexual assault reports, to access the data otherwise.
So the court has now ordered Baylor to provide information, including from non-party medical records beginning in mid-2006:
- Each report of sexual assault made by a female student
- Date of said report
- Date of the assault, if known
- Whether the alleged assailant was a Baylor student, if known
- The sex of the alleged assailant, if known
The university also has to produce non-party counseling records, in spreadsheet format, including:
- Each report of sexual assault made by a female student
- The date of said report
- The date of the assault, if known
- Whether the alleged assailant was a Baylor student, if known
- The sex of the alleged assailant, if known
Read more on Baylor Lariat.
I wonder whether some female students who reported assaults might actually be unhappy to have this information released to plaintiffs – if, for example, they had not pursued any criminal charges and didn’t want anyone to know. Could students be identified from the limited data types involved here? Given the number of students seen every year, it would seem unlikely, but not necessarily impossible.