WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a judge granted Public Citizen’s motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in a lawsuit brought on behalf of Doctors for America against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) challenges the agencies’ removal from publicly accessible government websites of vital health-related data and other information used by physicians, researchers, and other health professionals.
The TRO orders the agencies to restore the webpages and datasets.
Zach Shelley, a Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney and lead counsel on the case, stated: “The judge’s order today is an important victory for doctors, patients, and the public health of the whole country. This order puts a stop, at least temporarily, to the irrational removal of vital health information from public access.”
Dr. Christine Petrin, president of the board of directors for Doctors for America, also reacted: “In the short time that important web pages were removed from the websites of major public health agencies, our members have seen firsthand how dangerous it can be to practice medicine without critical clinical information. For the safety of our patients, we applaud the decision to restore this information, placing it back in the hands of providers around the country to keep their patients and communities safe and healthy.”
Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the board of directors for Doctors for America, added: “Today’s victory recognizes just how important these webpages are for us as physicians and researchers as we work to care for patients and improve public health. When these pages went dark, leaving us without access to crucial clinical information and public health data, many of my colleagues and I faced challenges in providing evidence-based care to patients, sometimes even leading to delays in doing so. We will continue to fight to reinstate these pages permanently so that no other patients face any harm.”
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation. We are 27,000 physicians and medical students in all 50 states, representing all areas of specialization. Our impact areas focus on access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. DFA focuses solely on what is best for our patients, not on the business side of medicine, and does not accept any funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies; which uniquely positions DFA as the organization that puts patients over politics and patients over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on Twitter @drsforamerica.
Public Citizen Litigation Group is the litigating arm of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. Public Citizen defends democracy, resists corporate power, and works to ensure that government works for the people. Through its Litigation Group, Public Citizen litigates to protect the rights of consumers to access the courts and to stop rollbacks of important consumer, worker, and environmental protections. Learn more at www.citizen.org/litigation
This article was originally published on Common Dreams and republished here, with permission, under a Creative Commons license.
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