Va. Tech Panel Wants Cho's Records

School Says Privacy Laws Prohibit Sharing Medical, Mental Health Files

(AP)  The panel studying last month's massacre at Virginia Tech will go to court if necessary to get gunman Seung-Hui Cho's medical and mental health records, the group's chairman said Tuesday.

Former State Police Superintendent W. Gerald Massengill told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he thinks the records can be gotten by citing a law that requires state oversight of mental facilities and by arguing that it has a right to review counseling records that Virginia Tech may have on Cho.

"We're going to get what we need, one way or the other," Massengill said, a day after Tech officials said federal privacy laws bar them from sharing the records.

Massengill said he reached his conclusion about the possibility of getting the records after discussions with the state attorney general's office.

If that fails, he said, "We'll have to go to the courts."

Cho killed 27 students and five professors before committing suicide April 16.

Cho was found "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization" in December 2005, according to court papers. A judge ordered him into involuntary outpatient treatment, but because of privacy laws, Tech police received no notice that he complied.

University counsel Kay Heidbreder said the laws, even for someone who is deceased, mean the records cannot be shared even among departments at the university.

As it is constituted, the panel cannot issue subpoenas to compel testimony and obtain documents. Delacey Skinner — a spokeswoman for Gov. Timothy Kaine, who convened the panel — said the governor has assured members the attorney general will help them get information.

[rich1620]

The university president/dean knows that they violated the immigrant%u2019s civil rights. The investigation is going into dangerous territory which I believe will lead to indictments.

[rich1620]

The university president/dean knows that they violated the immigrant%u2019s civil rights. The investigation is going into dangerous territory which I believe will lead to indictments.

[horse3farm]

What difference does it make? Cho is dead. What could possibly justify the time and effort of all this. So they can point fingers at someone? Oh that will do a lot of good. You can't bring the people he killed back, and you can't put him in prison.

And if you think all this will lead to some real preventative procedures to prevent this in the future, you don't really understand the human race.

[jetlizhan]

horse3farm -
i totally agree; competent or incompetent, if someone is h-e-l-lbent on doing evil, they will find a way.