Move To Block CBS Report Fails

A federal judge refused to block CBS's planned telecast Wednesday night of a hidden-camera report on alleged dangerous conditions and falsified records at a psychiatric hospital.

Charter Behavioral Health Systems, which runs 91 hospitals in 32 states, accused CBS of violating patient confidentiality by sending a worker into a Charter facility in Charlotte with a tiny camera on his eyeglasses.

The health group's request for a temporary restraining order was denied just hours before the segment was to air on CBS News 60 Minutes II.

In arguing its case, CBS News officials said patient confidentiality was not compromised by the report because the faces of those filmed were blurred and their voices altered.

Despite that, attorneys for the health system said several patients were worried they might be identified in the report.

"Simply blackening out their faces and disguising their voices won't prevent a patient's family and friends from recognizing that person," said Karen Popp, an attorney for Charter. "Their identities will be exposed."

John Wester, another Charter attorney, said CBS committed a crime by using the hidden camera. He said the program also violated patients' privacy.

"There's no doubt that when an individual enters a psychiatric hospital, the events that occur are his or her private matters,'' he said.

CBS attorney Lee Levine said the report needed to be broadcast because it raised important questions about the quality of care at psychiatric hospitals.

U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen expressed concerned that laws might have been broken in assembling the hidden-camera report, but said he had no choice but to deny the motion.

"It appears to this court that the Supreme Court has elevated press powers to the point where prior restraint is all but impossible to obtain, even when the press sets out to commit a crime," he said.

"Certainly, the press is not free to commit a crime ... but even if they did, it does not give me the opportunity to shut it down."

Charter attorneys said they weren't sure if they would appeal.