Disability Futures

In a victory for freedom of information advocates, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday that the state must release all information — except for patients' names — about documented abuses in long-term care facilities for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

The decision, written by Justice Goodwin Liu, will prevent the state from heavily redacting information when responding to public records' requests about citations issued by the Department of Public Health against government-owned facilities. Efforts to learn about the nature of abuses have been hindered in the past because the agency said it was bound by a patient-confidentiality law to omit most information.

Duffy Carolan, who represented California's Center for Investigative Reporting in the case, called the ruling "a complete victory under the Public Records Act."

"Now residents at the facilities, and their families and the public are going to be able to hold the facilities and the Department of Public Health accountable," Carolan said.