PORTLAND – Official paperwork associated with Maine’s suspended brain-harvesting operation can be withheld from the public, according to a recent court document filed by the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

State medical examiner’s forms identifying a deceased brain donor and who approved the donation reveal “private and sensitive information” and cannot be released, said Assistant Attorney General Thomas Knowlton.

The document comes in response to a lawsuit filed last February by The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram seeking copies of consent forms signed by family members of those whose bodies were in the custody of the state medical examiner’s office.

Four lawsuits have been filed by people who claim their family member’s brain was harvested without consent. Attorney General Steven Rowe has named a special prosecutor, who is conducting a criminal probe, Knowlton said.

The newspaper contends the public has a strong interest in knowing how the brain-collection program was handled. The state has only released redacted forms.

But many of the people named on the forms would be witnesses and releasing their names could interfere with the investigation, Knowlton wrote. Even if there were not an inquiry, the names should be withheld to guard the privacy of people involved, he wrote.

The identities of organ donors or their family members do not shed light on government activity but could expose the families to “harassment, annoyance or embarrassment,” he wrote.

Sigmund Schutz, an attorney representing the newspaper, said public records are full of documents that include personal information.

“Birth records are public. Divorce records are public. Death records are public,” he said. “We think that it’s very clear that these records are public.”