Harvey Peeler

Beaufort County officials have denied a S.C. Freedom of Information Act request from The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette seeking ambulance response timesand other data about county EMS operations. The request was made May 14, just days after the General Assembly passed a law ostensibly making such information available to the public.

However, Beaufort County attorney Ladson Howell said that by his reading of the new law, the newspapers’ request could be fulfilled only by court order. He said in an e-mail Tuesday he has requested an opinion from state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

The state senator who sponsored the bill — signed May 11 by Gov. Mark Sanford and taking effect immediately — said by e-mail Tuesday an attorney general’s opinion shouldn’t be necessary. “Do I need to come to Beaufort and straighten this situation out?” wrote Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee. “If the county attorney can’t figure out the intent of our bill, have him call me and I’ll explain it to him. We expect all information except the EMS responders’ name and patient information to be given to the public.”

The request by the Packet and Gazette was similar to one made almost a year ago seeking ambulance-response times and other information about county EMS performance. The county also denied that request, and McMaster issued an opinion Aug. 19, 2009, that a 2004 law, also sponsored by Peeler, did not allow for the release of aggregated statistics, even if they don’t reveal patient information. But Peeler said the 2004 bill was submitted only to make state law correspond to federal medical privacy laws. It was never his intent to withhold statistical data from the public, he said, and he set about amending that law in January.

Peeler’s measure passed, although at the urging of the S.C. EMS Association, it included a provision making the names of EMTs available only to those who receive care or are representatives of the estate of deceased patients. Nurses and doctors are afforded similar protection, but police and firefighters are not. In their most recent request, the newspapers asked to review county EMS records “collected, compiled by or in the possession of the county or its agents” documenting response times of county EMS from Jan. 1, 2006, to the present.

The newspapers also asked to see any documentation, analysis, feasibility study or comparison examining county EMS response times in southern Beaufort County. The newspapers did not request the names of EMTs or personnel records. “I realize this position is contrary to published reports in your newspaper that would allow public access to EMS records,” Howell said in his e-mail. “However, my interpretation of the new statute does not meet those requirements.”

Attempts Tuesday to reach County Council Chairman Weston Newton and County Administrator Gary Kubic for comment by telephone and e-mail were unsuccessful. Suzanne Larson, a county spokeswoman, said Kubic was standing by Howell’s response. “Ladson (Howell) has already covered everything,” Larson said. “Mr. Kubic has nothing further to add right now.”

Jay Bender, an attorney for the S.C. Press Association, said Tuesday the county’s response to the newspapers’ requests was “another example of county officials trying to avoid providing public records.” “It seems to me that the only reason to request the Attorney General’s opinion is to cause a delay,” Bender said. “It’s very clear that the bill was intended to allow the public to find out information about emergency medical services with the exception of the identification of EMS personnel and medical information about the person being transported.” Bender said ambulance-response times are public data. “The notion that you would need a court order is made up,” he said. “This response it consistent with the way the county has acted in the past. Beaufort County needs to be driven by whip and lash to provide open and transparent government.”

Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/05/25/1251966/despite-new-state-law-beaufort.html#ixzz0p09xvxM2