Alexee Trevizo, a high school senior, was charged with first-degree murder after a newborn baby was found dead in a hospital trash can. The New Mexico Supreme Court has now ruled that prosecutors cannot use hospital body camera footage or a taped confession in her trial.

Protection of Doctor-Patient Confidentiality

The justices upheld a lower court decision, finding that all statements Trevizo made in her hospital room in front of police are protected by doctor-patient confidentiality. The ruling also bars prosecutors from introducing hospital surveillance video and police body camera footage captured at the facility.

Trevizo had arrived at Artesia General Hospital complaining of severe back pain. After hospital staff discovered the dead baby, Trevizo responded on camera, saying she didn’t know what to do. Her physician, Dr. Heather Vaskas, had brought officers into the room without authorization, breaching Trevizo’s physician-patient privilege.

The court stated that because Trevizo was in a ‘compromised medical condition’ and not given the opportunity to exclude anyone from the room, her waiver of her physician-patient privilege was not voluntary.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.