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New Medical Privacy Rules: '186 Pages of Mud' Wes Vernon, NewsMax.comWASHINGTON – The government’s new medical "privacy” regulations appear to "obliterate even the minimum privacy rules that were in place,” according to a physicians group. The regulation, set to take effect in April 2003, confirms the worst nightmare of the patient – allowing doctors to disclose patient information without written permission. "Another 186 pages of mud,” said Kathryn Serkes, counsel for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). The more the bureaucrats at HHS try to "clarify” this firestorm that began in the last days of the Clinton administration, the more they tie themselves in knots, much to the confusion of hapless doctors and patients. The doctors live in mortal fear of being sued. The patients are increasingly wary of having their most private medical information shared with intrusive elements in and out of government. Last year, AAPS filed a suit charging the so-called privacy regulation violated the First, Fourth, Fifth and 10th Amendments to the Constitution. The original regulation, promulgated by the Clinton administration and kept alive by the Bush administration, purports to protect patient privacy. NewsMax.com last year did a page-by-page, line-by-line analysis of the entire document of nearly 2,000 pages. That examination showed that, in fact, it does just the opposite. It is as if the document had been written in such a manner as to deliberately obscure its privacy invasions. "Tweaking the regulation will not work,” Serkes told NewsMax.com. The entire package should be overhauled. There is nothing in the additional 186 pages, added to the original voluminous document, that lessens the objections outlined in the lawsuit. If anything, she adds, it would cause the professional association to redouble its efforts. The murky plan benefits neither doctors nor patients, the AAPS counsel said. "The only group benefiting is the lawyers,” she asserted. A patient may be afraid to give adequate information to the doctor for fear it will end up in the hands of some government bureaucrat. Some patients fear that when they fill a prescription, they’ll end up being hounded by telemarketers. If the doctor does not get the necessary information, it could hinder him from dispensing adequate treatment. These considerations go beyond even the all-important right of privacy and eluding prying eyes. Beyond constitutional arguments, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons worries that the regulation could be dangerous and life threatening. There is yet another pattern in the way the Department of Health and Human Services deals with the privacy issue. HHS's announcements are released while Congress is out of town. It happened on this occasion as well as last year. It's common knowledge that this is a good way to minimize the outrage on Capitol Hill and that makes it less likely that the public will sit up and take notice.
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