Demi Moore 9-1-1 Call Sparks Controversy In Sacramento
Demi Moore apparently has friends in high places - one of them being Sacramento. A state lawmaker perturbed by the publicly released 9-1-1 call involving Moore has made it her mission to make sure law enforcement agencies cannot legally release private information from emergency calls.
Spearheaded by Assemblywoman Norma Torres, the bill - AB1275 - would prohibit said agencies "from releasing medical or personal identifying information contained in emergency calls," according to The Santa Clarita Valley Signal. Sometimes it takes an incident involving a celebrity to shake up the system, and this appears to be such a case.
The emergency call was made January 23 by a friend of Moore's after the 49-year-old actress inhaled nitrous oxide, aka Whipits, before falling into semi-consciousness and experiencing seizure-like symptoms at her Beverly Hills home. Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich requested that any drug references be redacted from the audio before becoming public due to privacy issues. Trutanich's request was honored, and TMZ posted the edited audio online. Multiple sources reported the panicked caller said the following: "She smoked something, it's not marijuana, but it's similar to ... it's similar to incense and she seems to be having convulsions of some sort."
AroundTheCapitol.com details AB1275 as follows:
AB 1275 (Torres)
California Public Records Act: exemption: emergency 911 telephone calls.The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make public records available for inspection, subject to specified criteria, and with specified exceptions. The Warren-911-Emergency-Assistance Act provides a statewide system for the use of 911 as the primary emergency telephone number.
This bill would prohibit a state or local agency from disclosing any portion of a 911 emergency telephone call providing medical or personal identifying information.
Torres told the Sacramento Bee, "Eyes rolling back, foaming at the mouth, bleeding from a body part - that's nobody's business but the medical personnel and the patient. I think it has crossed the line."
Critics of the proposed measure say federal and state laws already provide enough protections. Existing law allows law enforcement agencies to withhold personal information "that is medical or personal that if disclosed would cause an unwarranted invasion of privacy," says Jim Ewert, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, but the media is usually able to obtain copes of emergency dispatch tapes under the California Public Records Act. Agencies decide what qualifies as an invasion.
Torres' measure is one of hundreds proposed prior to Friday's deadline for laws to be considered in 2012.
