TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Anti-abortion lawmakers called Tuesday for the Kansas Legislature to investigate after a former abortion provider discarded hundreds of patients' private medical records in a paper recycling bin outside an elementary school in the Kansas City area.
The general counsel for the State Board of Healing Arts, which regulates physicians and doctor's offices, said it will consider going to court to have an outside custodian take possession of any remaining records from the Affordable Medical and Surgical Services in Kansas City, Kan.
The clinic shut down in 2005, shortly after its doctor, Krishna Rajanna, lost his Kansas medical license, and Rajanna told the Associated Press he still has documents stored in his home in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.
The discovery of the documents prompted an investigation by local police, the Johnson County district attorney's office and the state regulatory board. Rajanna said he discarded the documents Friday in the recycling bin, outside an elementary school a few blocks from his home, expecting the bin to be emptied quickly.
The documents were discovered Saturday by a woman who was dumping materials for recycling. She contacted her daughter, a nurse, who contacted The Kansas City Star, which reported their discovery.
The Star reported the woman found more than 1,000 records, and Rajanna confirmed he left about that number in the bin. The Star said the records contained names, birth dates, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and the patients' health histories, including whether any abortions were performed, for patients from almost every county in the Kansas City area and beyond, from Topeka to Freeman, Mo.