Daisy Rodriguez v. Board of Registration in Medicine (SPR 20201525)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 11, 2020 SPR20/1525 Tara Douglas, Esq. Assistant General Counsel Board of Registration in Medicine 200 Harvard Mill Square, Suite 330 Wakefield, MA 01880 Dear Attorney Douglas: I have received the petition of Daisy Rodriguez appealing the response of the Board of Registration in Medicine (Board) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Rodriguez requested “all documents pertaining to the lawsuit listed on the profile of Irina Natapov, M.D. including, docket number, court county, all settlements, the case Complaint etc.” The Board responded to Ms. Baxter on August 26, 2020, providing two pages of responsive records, and withholding others pursuant to Exemption (a) of the Public Records Law. Unsatisfied with this response, Mr. Rodriguez petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR20/1525, was opened as a result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Tara Douglas, Esq. SPR20/1525 Page 2 September 11, 2020 Current Appeal In her appeal petition, Ms. Rodriguez states that the Board “sent the attached letter with no case information and documents. Kindly obtain the lawsuit information. They have disclosed this before to others setting a precedent.” Based on the Board’s response and Ms. Rodriguez’s appeal petition, I find the nature of the appeal is unclear. All petitions for appeal “shall specifically describe the nature of the requester’s objections to the response or failure to timely respond.” 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(f). After a staff member of the Public Records Division contacted Ms. Rodriguez to provide further information regarding the nature of her objections, she refused, stating “[m]y first appeal request is all I'm sending. Please obtain the public records.” Accordingly, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Ms. Rodriguez may resubmit an appeal to this office once the appeal has been clarified. See id. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Daisy Rodriguez