Court Keeps Medical Records Sealed In Boca Sex Abuse Case
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - In a strongly worded opinion, a South Florida appeals court has rejected a defendant's request to unseal medical records of a teenage girl who was molested at a Boca Raton condominium building.
Anthony Vecchio pleaded guilty in December 2012 to lewd or lascivious battery, lewd or lascivious molestation and battery on a child. But he later filed an appeal and a motion to unseal medical records of the teen, identified in court documents by the initials S.P. He contended that he had not received complete information before deciding to enter the plea and before sentencing.
A circuit judge approved the motion to unseal the medical records, leading to the appeal.
The appeals court's opinion recounted that S.P., who was 14 at the time of the molestation, later received treatment at a facility in Utah for issues such as eating disorders and nightmares. Her attorneys argued that her medical records were protected from disclosure because of her legal rights to privacy and because of psychotherapist-patient privilege.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court agreed that the records are protected.
"While certain specifics of the medical records may remain unknown out of respect for the victim's psychotherapist-patient privilege, it has been well documented that the victim/patient, S.P., was and has been suffering from certain mental health issues. … If we were to permit the trial court's order to stand, S.P.'s privacy rights would be irreversibly violated,'' wrote Judge Cory Ciklin in the court's opinion.
Ciklin was joined by judges Martha Warner and Mark Klingensmith in ruling that the records should remain sealed.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
