[Med-privacy] [Fwd: [healthprivacy-news] Justice Department demands release of abortion records]

[pmarshall]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [healthprivacy-news] Justice Department demands release of
abortion  
                                           records
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004
From: "btossell@healthprivacy.org" <btossell@healthprivacy.org>
Reply-To: info@healthprivacy.org


Justice Department demands release of abortion records

After a group of doctors challenged the constitutionality of the federal
Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, the Justice Department demanded
through a set of subpoenas that hospitals in several states release the
medical records of many patients who had so-called partial birth
abortions, the New York Times reported today. The Justice Department is
arguing that their request does not violate federal law because
"individuals no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their
histories will remain completely confidential." However, the new federal
privacy law (HIPAA) creates such an enforceable expectation of privacy
by limiting certain uses and disclosures of people's health information. 
	
The plaintiff doctors - and hospitals - are fighting the subpoenas.
Judge Charles Kocoras of Federal District Court in Chicago ruled against
the DOJ's subpoena of the women's medical records on the grounds that
releasing patient records to the government would violate HIPAA and
Illinois medical privacy law. The Washington Post reports that Judge
Kocoras called the request "'a significant intrusion' of patients'
privacy that would provide 'little, if any, probative value' to the
government's case."

However, in a second challenge to the subpoenas, Judge Richard Conway
Casey of Federal District Court in Manhattan came to a contradictory
decision, threatening to lift a temporary ban he had imposed on the Act
if the medical records were not released, and saying "the information
relevant to this case will be produced. Otherwise, I will entertain
whatever actions the government wishes to seek."

The department's demands for records in several other states are
pending. The doctors challenging the Act are backed by the ACLU, the
National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood and the Center for
Reproductive Rights.

In 2002, the Health Privacy Project weighed in on a similar controversy
in Iowa. Law enforcement officials in Iowa had demanded that Planned
Parenthood and local hospitals release the identities of all women who
had a positive pregnancy test over a period of about a year. In an
op-ed, the Health Privacy Project warned that such demands "risk driving
women away from Planned Parenthood clinics, and other health care
services where women expect and need confidential care." Ultimately,
Planned Parenthood prevailed in resisting the subpoena.
 
The Health Privacy Project is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization dedicated
to raising public awareness of the importance of ensuring health privacy
in order to improve health care access and quality, both on an
individual and a community level.  

Support the Health Privacy Project at http://www.healthprivacy.org.