NewsMax Wires
Saturday, Apr. 03, 2004

The plaintiffs sued the Department of Health and Human Services in April, saying the department sabotaged a key privacy provision that required a patient's written consent anytime confidential medical data was released.

The judge's pretrial ruling said doctors and patient advocates failed to show the regulations were enacted improperly or were unconstitutional. The rules took effect last spring.

An attorney for a coalition of groups that challenged the rules, James Pyles, said he was disappointed in the decision but had not decided whether to appeal.

"We brought the suit in Philadelphia because that was the birthplace of the right of privacy under the constitution, and it would either be preserved there or die there," Pyles said. "I think it will die there unless this decision is reversed."

A spokesman for the Justice Department, which defended the regulations on behalf of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, declined comment.

Defense lawyers said the law's overall effect was to give patients unprecedented power to ensure that their records are distributed to as small a circle of caregivers as possible.

U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin agreed the law benefited patient privacy and said she could find no constitutional violation.

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