Doctors for America Files Lawsuit Against the OPM, CDC, FDA, and HHS

According to a Feb. 4 press release, Doctors for America, represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group, filed a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) due to the removal of health-related data and information used by health professionals and researchers from government websites.

The press release stated, “The complaint explains that the removal of key webpages and datasets creates a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprives physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and takes away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients.”

Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the board of directors for Doctors for America was quoted in the release. Ramachandran said, “Like many of my colleagues, I am both a doctor who takes care of patients and a researcher. Removing critical clinical information and datasets from the websites of CDC, FDA, and HHS not only puts the health of our patients at risk, but also endangers research that improves the health and healthcare of the American public. Federal public health agencies must reinstate these resources in full to protect our patients.”