Doctors for America has filed a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management and other federal health agencies for removing webpages from healthcare websites.
According to a Feb. 4 news release by Public Citizen Litigation Group, the lawsuit also targets the CDC, FDA and HHS for removing a "broad range of health-related data and other information used every day" by health professionals and researchers. The complaint specifically cites the Administrative Procedure Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 as precedents for the lawsuit.
"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," according to the news release.
Public Citizen Litigation Group, the legal arm of Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, is representing Doctors for America, a nonprofit composed of 27,000 physicians and medical students.