Kobe Bryant's widow is ordered by a judge to turn over her medical records to gauge the extent of her reported emotional distress regarding the leak of photos from husband's helicopter crash site.
- Nov 17, 2021
AceShowbiz - Vanessa Bryant has been ordered to share her medical records with Los Angeles County officials.
The widow of basketball great Kobe Bryant sought to block authorities from accessing her papers, citing doctor-patient privilege, amid her ongoing lawsuit over Sheriff's deputies sharing crash site photos from the tragic January 2020 helicopter crash that killed her husband and 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
According to Vanessa, knowing the photos had been published elsewhere was causing her "constant fear and anxiety," leading to trouble sleeping and depression. However, officials requested her medical records to determine whether her trauma was caused by the alleged photo leak or the crash itself.
In a ruling, the judge said the records were relevant and the County was "neither being abusive nor harassing" in requesting them - despite the papers purportedly relating to her visits with a psychotherapist.
Vanessa now has until 29 November (21) to turn over the relevant documents to the court, reported TMZ.
In September 2020, Vanessa Bryant sued the county sheriff and fire department officials of improperly sharing photos from the crash site. She is seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages.
She was asked to undergo a psychiatric exam by Los Angeles County officials, but she refused.
Her lawyers blasted the request for a medical evaluation, calling it a "bullying" tactic. "Unable to defend the indefensible conduct of its employees who took and shared horrific photographs of Plaintiffs' deceased loved ones... the County has resorted to scorched-earth discovery tactics designed to bully Plaintiffs into abandoning their pursuit of accountability," her team stated.
