Doctors for America accuses several federal agencies of unlawfully deleting website information that could affect healthcare delivery and clinical studies in the United States in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday. The suit names the Office of Personnel Management, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (pictured), Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health & Human Services as defendants. Photo by James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Wikimedia Commons
Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The Trump administration recently removed heath data from government websites, which spurred a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Doctors for America organization.
The Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of Doctors for America filed the lawsuit that names the Office of Personnel Management, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health & Human Services as defendants.
DFA is an advocacy organization that favors universal health coverage, affordability, quality and equity.
"The removal of the 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," the DFA and PCLG say in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C.
"The removal of this information deprives researchers of access to information that is necessary for treating patients, for developing clinical studies that produce results that accurately reflect the effects treatments will have in clinical practice and for developing practices and policies that protect the health of vulnerable populations and the country as a whole," the plaintiffs say.
The lawsuit challenges the OPM removing information regarding gender ideology and the CDC removing information regarding youth mental health challenges, HIV testing and other health-related issues.
The lawsuit also challenges the FDA removing several web pages regarding sex differences in clinical evaluation of medical products and under-representation of populations in clinical studies.
"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 health care of the American public," Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the DFA board of directors, said Tuesday in a press release.
Ramachandran wants the federal agencies to reinstate the information on the respective federal agency websites.
"These federal agencies exist to serve the American people by protecting public health," said PCLG lead attorney Zach Shelley. "Removing this vital information flouts that mandate."
The DFA and PCLG accuse the OPM of unlawfully ordering the removal the information without warning from respective agency websites.
The plaintiffs also accuse the CDC and HHS of removing information without providing advance public notice in violation of federal law and the FDA and HHS of unlawfully removing information.
The plaintiffs want the federal court to order the respective agencies to restore the removed information and stop the agencies from removing or substantially modifying the webpages and datasets without providing advance notice.
Representatives of the OPM, CDC, FDA and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.