The attorneys for alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione accused prosecutors of unlawfully obtaining and reviewing their client’s medical records in a Thursday letter to the court overseeing Mangione’s New York criminal case.
The defense team is seeking sanctions that range from recusing prosecutors to dismissing the case against the former Gilman School valedictorian. They also want all communications between insurer Aetna and the District Attorney’s Office, as well as sworn testimony from prosecutors and the insurance company, for a full evidentiary hearing on the issue.
Although they only requested Mangione’s account number and the period of time during which he was insured, prosecutors received 120 pages, “the entire designated record set,” from Aetna when it provided Mangione’s insurance, including statements he made about his health, according to the defense’s letter.
Once prosecutors received the dossier, they partially reviewed it, the motion says. The defense wants sworn testimony and computer forensic information regarding who reviewed which files, when and for how long.
The prosecutors’ “false and fraudulent” subpoena to Aetna listed a court date that was never scheduled and was signed by a member of the district attorney’s office, not a judge, the defense says. Additionally, prosecutors received the records from Aetna directly, when proper procedure dictates that the judge should have gotten them first.
The defense team declined to comment.
“We deleted the materials as soon as we became aware of them and brought it to defense and the court’s attention,” the District Attorney’s Office said when asked for comment on the defense’s accusations.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, protects patients’ private health information. It requires entities, such as health insurance companies, to refrain from improperly disclosing medical information and to limit disclosures to the minimum necessary amount for any given purpose, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The defense contends Aetna violated HIPAA by sending all of Mangione’s medical records to the prosecution. An Aetna representative told prosecutors the company sent the records in error because it had received another subpoena from the defense around the same time, according to the letter. The defense denies having served a subpoena to the company.
“By reaching a secret arrangement to have Aetna send the information to the District Attorney directly, and not to the Court, the District Attorney ensured that the confidential, HIPAA-protected, doctor-patient privileged information was not subject to challenge by the defense,” the filing states.
Had the defense known about the subpoena, they would have objected on several grounds, the letter says.
“It is clear that the District Attorney utilized a false and fraudulent subpoena to secure these confidential medical documents behind the back of both the Court and defense counsel so as to rush this case to trial in a manner that prejudices Mr. Mangione,” it reads.
Mangione’s next appearance in court for this case is scheduled for Sept. 16. His other cases, one in the federal court in New York and another in Pennsylvania, are proceeding separately.
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