Nothing But Politics

[sarai]

Your Medical Privacy
By Jennifer Van Bergen
t r u t h o u t / Report

Monday 19 May 2003

http://truthout.org/docs_03/062403I.shtml

"Finally, it is not commonly known that your medical records are subject to the same provision of the USA PATRIOT Act that requires libraries to give federal law enforcement your computer usage and book borrowing information upon request without telling you. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act does not just apply to libraries. It applies to any records kept by a third party, including medical records. Thus, if federal law enforcement requested your medical records, your doctor would have to provide them and would not be able to tell you. HIPAA protection is utterly without teeth in this circumstance.

The problem with the PATRIOT Act’s intrusion into your medical records is that those records can be obtained by any FBI agent without probable cause that you are involved in any criminal activity at all. The agent need only certify that he seeks the records for a foreign intelligence investigation and the judge must rubber stamp the request."

================================================================

I had to "sign away" at the pediatrician's office and then again at the pharmacy -- swimmer's ear!!.. What is the impact on physician/patient confidentiality??.. The insurance industry is completely out of control -- a scam. The Patriot's Act presents a whole different set of concerns...