Court rejects Connecticut officials’ bid to keep secret a police report on hospital patient’s death

By DAVE COLLINS
Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court says police reports about deaths and other incidents in public hospitals cannot be kept secret. Justices on Tuesday rejected an attempt by state officials to prevent the release of a police report about a 2016 patient death at Connecticut’s only maximum-security psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. State officials argued the report was confidential under medical privacy laws. The patient reportedly choked to death on food while being restrained by staff at the state-run Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown. The Supreme Court ordered the release of the report with some redactions, citing the importance of government transparency in such cases.