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25 Investigates: Boston keeps public safety records secret despite state order

BOSTON – The City of Boston and its Public Health Commission are fighting to keep some critical public safety response records a secret, despite a recent order by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to release some of those records to 25 Investigates.

The records in question are audio files of a 911 call and other emergency dispatch communication over a two and a half hour period on one day in December 2016.

On that day, the father of a 2-year-old girl says he called 911 when his daughter had a seizure lasting nearly 20 minutes. Steve Holt says that’s how long it took for an ambulance to come to their home in East Boston.

“It absolutely could have been a life and death issue," said Holt.

Holt said his little girl ended up being OK after her medical scare – thanks to an off-duty EMT who lives next door and stepped in to help while they waited for an ambulance.

The delay was just one of many uncovered by 25 Investigates during a four month-long investigation last fall.

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However, the city refused to provide Holt’s 911 call and all other dispatch recordings from a two-and-a-half hour period that day, which Boston 25 News requested in order to better understand the demands placed on Boston EMS.

In their denial of 25 Investigates’ public records request, lawyers for the Boston Public Health Commission cited HIPAA rules protecting medical information, even though Holt signed a privacy waiver to release the 911 call to Boston 25 News.

On appeal, the Secretary of the Commonwealth later ordered Boston to redact private information and make the rest of the recordings public, but lawyers for the city still refused, saying the work to remove private information from the recordings would be “overly burdensome and unnecessary.”

The refusal even caught the attention of some veteran government watchdogs in Boston.

“It’s pretty surprising when you have a ruling from the Secretary of State’s Office,” said Mary Connaughton, Director of Government Transparency for the Pioneer Institute.

“The public might think, what are they trying to hide?” said Connaughton.

With the issue of government openness in the spotlight during “Sunshine Week,” Connaughton says Massachusetts too often keeps the public in the dark.

“We’re almost at rock bottom in terms of government transparency,” said Connaughton.

25 Investigates wanted to ask Boston Mayor Marty Walsh about his administration’s secrecy surrounding Boston EMS, but four days after Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen asked for an interview, the Mayor’s office refused.

On Thursday, his press secretary issue the following written response:

"As a public health agency, the Boston Public Health Commission is strictly prohibited from releasing any information that could be used to directly or indirectly identify individuals and their medical information.

While releasing portions of dispatch recordings may seem insignificant to some, it is entirely possible that an individual could be identified through the date, time or location of the call, putting their protected and sensitive medical information at risk.

The City of Boston takes its obligations under the Massachusetts Public Records Law very seriously, however responding to this request would be a clear violation of federal law."

In another statement, the Boston Public Health Commission reiterated it would not provide any recordings to anyone other than “a patient or the court,” but neither BPHC nor the Mayor’s Office would say why they refused to provide Steve Holt’s 911 call to Boston 25 News after Holt signed the privacy waiver.