Judge Opens Limbaugh Records to Prosecutors

Prosecutors will be able to review Rush Limbaugh’s medical records to determine whether he illegally obtained prescriptions from a series of doctors to feed an addiction to painkillers, a Florida judge ruled Tuesday.

Limbaugh’s attorneys had fought to keep the records sealed, arguing that their release would violate the radio commentator’s right to privacy. But Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff ruled that the state’s interest in determining whether Limbaugh broke the law eclipsed his privacy concerns. However, prosecutors may not make the records public, Winikoff ruled.

Limbaugh’s attorney, Roy Black, immediately filed a notice of appeal. In a separate motion, Black asked the court to stay its order until an appeals court had reviewed the case. Otherwise, the release of Limbaugh’s medical information would “cause ‘cat out of the bag’ harm,” Black wrote.

Tuesday’s legal skirmish was the latest arising from a criminal investigation of Limbaugh, a nationally syndicated radio host who spent five weeks in a drug rehabilitation facility in the fall for an addiction to prescription painkillers. The drugs were prescribed for severe back pain.

After learning that Limbaugh had received hundreds of painkillers prescribed by multiple doctors, Florida officials began investigating whether he had “doctor-shopped,” or shuttled from one physician to the next to get overlapping prescriptions.

Investigators seized Limbaugh’s medical charts and files last month, but the information contained in them had been under seal. Palm Beach County prosecutors argued that they had a need to review the records to gauge what Limbaugh’s doctors knew about his prescriptions for OxyContin, hydrocodone and other painkillers.

“The state has clearly demonstrated the relevance ... between seizing Mr. Limbaugh’s medical records and this ongoing criminal investigation,” Winikoff wrote before ordering the records released.

After the ruling, Black said in a statement that “Mr. Limbaugh was not doctor-shopping and he should not have to sacrifice his privacy to prove his innocence.”

Limbaugh called the Florida inquiry a “fishing expedition” and said that authorities were politically motivated.

Palm Beach County State Atty. Barry Krischer, a Democrat, said in a statement released Tuesday that his office had “scrupulously protected Mr. Limbaugh’s rights.” He noted that Winikoff found that the state had “acted in good faith.”

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Times staff researcher Anna Virtue in Miami contributed to this report.