July 26, 1999
Web posted at: 2:36 p.m. EDT (1836 GMT)

In this story: DiMaggio estate threatens to sue Case involves Munchausen syndrome RELATED STORIES, SITES

FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Attorneys for Joe DiMaggio's estate met privately with Florida court officials Monday, after discovering that the late baseball legend's medical records had accidentally appeared in a child abuse proceeding.

Judge Victor Tobin ordered that attorneys for all parties be present while the records are separated from the ongoing trial involving a Florida mother accused of intentionally sickening her daughter for years to gain attention for herself.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in Fort Lauderdale met on Friday while the court was not in session to look over hospital records in the case.

They found that DiMaggio's records from Memorial Regional Hospital in the nearby town of Hollywood were combined with 35,000 pages of medical records involving alleged child abuse victim Jennifer Bush.

DiMaggio estate threatens to sue

The records "were supposed to be under lock and key. We were told they were as safe as could be," said DiMaggio friend and attorney Morris Engleberg.

"If it happened once, it could happen again," he told CNN.

Engleberg hired attorneys to remove DiMaggio's sealed records from the custody of the hospital. If the hospital refuses, Engleberg said the estate will sue.

"We all make mistakes, but this is unbelievable," Engleberg said. "And this is Joe's hospital."

A wing of Memorial Regional Hospital is named after DiMaggio, and the hospital continues to advertise its pediatric services using the Hall of Famer's name.

Engleberg called the records "five months of records of a dying man." DiMaggio's family fears they could fall into the wrong hands and be sold for financial gain, he said.

"Of all the people to have this happen to. The hospital made errors. The question is how to keep this out of the public," he said. "There's stuff you wouldn't want released."

Judge Tobin kept the sealed files locked in his office safe over the weekend.

The judge ordered the DiMaggio record mix-up to be disclosed to the jury when the child abuse trial of Kathleen Bush resumes Monday afternoon.

Case involves Munchausen syndrome

Prosecutors say Bush suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare condition in which a parent harms a child in order to gain attention.

Kathy Bush, 41, is accused of contaminating her daughter's blood, tampering with her feeding pump and sickening her with unprescribed medication

She is charged with aggravated child abuse and Medicaid fraud, and faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on both charges.

Her daughter Jennifer, now 12, underwent 40 surgeries and about 200 hospital visits by the time she was eight, according to prosecutors.

Correspondent Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.

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