NHFC- Court Declares Open Season on Private Medical Records

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

WESTON A. PRICE FOUNDATION

INFORMATION ALERT

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=10221895 & u=88170.

 

*********************************************************

 

Bill Sanda of Public Affairs

Weston A. Price Foundation

westonaprice_contact

 

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