TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On his second trip to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Texas physician Courtney Morgan, M.D., won the right to his day in court over unlawful searches of his medical clinics, writes Andrew Schlafly, in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Schlafly is general counsel for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).
Dr. Morgan started and operated two medical clinics in Victoria, Texas, Hop Medical Services and Drive Thru Doc, which provided affordable primary care to low-income, uninsured patients. Such clinics are urgently needed in rural America, Schlafly states.
In 2013, an armed agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety, two additional Medical Board agents, two Drug Enforcement Administration agents, a local police officer, and an investigator for the Texas Medical Board, conducted a surprise search of Dr. Morgan’s clinics without a search warrant. Officials seized the staff’s cell phones and patients’ confidential medical records, Schlafly reports.
The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause supported by an affidavit, approved by a neutral judge, specifying with particularity the location and items to be seized, before searching a home or business. There is a heightened expectation of privacy by patients in their medical records, Schlafly states. The narrow exceptions did not apply to Dr. Morgan’s clinics. He did not run a pain-management clinic, and his clinics were obviously not “pill mills.”
The Texas Medical Board had a practice of authorizing surprise searches of clinics with a mere administrative subpoena, Schlafly notes. The Court had found this practice to be unconstitutional. The issue is whether officials participating in this abuse have qualified immunity or can be held accountable for damages.
A key cause of the American Revolution was arbitrary surprise searches by British officials, Schlafly explained. Prominent colonies insisted on having protection against warrantless searches in the Constitution.
After more than a decade of litigation, Dr. Morgan has won the right to a trial by jury, setting an important precedent for restraining this abuse, Schlafly concludes.
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.
Contact: Andrew Schlafly, aschlafly@aol.com, or Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.com
