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October 10, 2004
COURT DECLARES OPEN SEASON
ON PRIVATE MEDICAL RECORDS
On Wednesday October 6, the District Court of Appeals, Fourth District,
Florida, ruled against Rush Limbaugh in his bid to keep his medical
records private after the State of Florida seized them in a fishing
expedition looking for evidence of "doctor-shopping."
The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) filed an
amicus curie brief in that case since it affects the privacy of all
medical records and the ability of the government to seize them with
just the
most slender of threads of "probable cause."
AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly says it signals an "open season
on
everyone's medical records and everyone in the country needs to start
playing hide and seek with their doctor."
Last April, AAPS ran a national newspaper ad in USA Today and others
with a masked doctor, warning patients, "You have the right to remain
silent...." It seems that dire prediction is now coming true.
"We'd better tell doctors to Mirandize every patient - tell them
'You
have the right to remain silent' - because this is the end of privacy
in
medical records. The message to patients is clear: anything you tell
your doctor can and will be used against you," warns Mr. Schlafly.
Rush Limbaugh has not been charged with a crime, and yet the State of
Florida seized access to many of his highly personal medical records, without
prior notice. The State even grabbed medical records unrelated to its
investigation.
This ruling could not come at a worse time, as Senators Bill Frist and
Hillary Clinton have banded together to promote a federal plan towards
electronic databases of all patients
Read the entire AAPS statement, the court's ruling and the AAPS brief
at
http://en.groundspring.org/EmailNow/pub.php?
module=URLTracker&cmd=track&j=10220234&u=88170.
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This page was posted on 10/11/04 |
