An Indiana agency that protects the interests of patients with developmental disabilities can’t sue the state’s social services administration to obtain the medical records of a mentally ill patient who died, the 7th Circuit ruled.
A branch of state government cannot draw on federal civil rights laws to sue another branch of government, the Chicago-based appeals court decided. “Yet that is exactly what Advocacy Services is trying to do,” Chief Judge Easterbrook wrote. “This suit might as well be captioned Indiana v. Indiana.”
Read more in Courthouse News.
Related: Court opinion (pdf)