Tamara Greene case: Hospital fights demand for dancer’s records

A lawyer for Detroit Receiving Hospital is challenging a subpoena filed last week by an attorney for the family of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene seeking any possible records of her treatment there.

Patricia Leonard, an attorney for the hospital, said the subpoena filed Dec. 9 by Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma is overly broad and violates medical privacy laws.

Leonard said the hospital needs more specific information about Greene such as her birthday, Social Security number or the dates she may have been treated before it could look for any records.

The hospital would be willing to try to help if the search request were more narrowly crafted, Leonard said in her response.

Greene’s family claims in a federal lawsuit that Detroit officials conspired to thwart the investigation into Greene’s April 30, 2003, drive-by slaying, which remains unsolved. Greene was rumored to have danced at a never-proved party in fall 2002 at the Manoogian Mansion.

There is no evidence that Greene was ever treated at Detroit Receiving or any hospital.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox recently produced records to the Free Press indicating Yatooma checked Detroit Receiving Hospital records in 2008 and learned that Greene had never been treated there.

Yet, Cox said, Yatooma continues to contend that Greene was taken there.

Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Mark Krebs testified in an October deposition obtained by the Free Press that the investigation of the rumored party was thwarted by stonewalling from Detroit police, pressure from Cox’s office to finish the probe and reluctant witnesses.

Cox has consistently denied wrongdoing, sharply disputed Krebs’ characterization of his actions and noted that the party probe included interviews with 130 witnesses that yielded no evidence.

Yatooma also filed a similar subpoena last week for records at Sinai-Grace Hospital and Leonard issued the same objections.