Bert Fish Board Withheld Transcripts

Tags: Bert Fish Foundation | Bert Fish Medical Center | Florida Hospital

Officials from New Smyrna, Fla.-based Bert Fish Medical Center withheld 461 pages of transcripts from the public from 21 private meetings on the hospital's merger with Orlando's Florida Hospital, according to a Daytona Beach News-Journal report.

The withheld documents from meetings held in 2010 and 2009 are central in the recent lawsuit filed against Bert Fish Medical Center by the Bert Fish Foundation.

According to the report, the lawyers for the Bert Fish Foundation said the closed-door discussions "evince a culture of contempt for the Sunshine Law," and effectively shut the public out of the public board's decision-making process.

The State Attorney's Office is reviewing whether any laws were broken.

Read the Daytona Beach News-Journal report on the Bert Fish Medical Center lawsuit.

Read more coverage on the Bert Fish Medical Center:

- Florida Hospital Foundation Files Suit Against Merger of Public Bert Fish Medical Center With Private Hospital, Argues Transaction Violates State Law

- Halifax Health's Late Push Fails to Pull Bert Fish Away From Adventist Health

- Florida's Bert Fish Officially Merges With Adventist Health

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