Posted on 10/06/2004 7:03:49 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON -- The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons issued the following statement by it General Counsel, Andrew Schlafly, in reaction to the decision issued today by the District Court of Appeals, Fourth District, Florida, in the matter of Rush Limbaugh v. the State of Florida regarding the release of his medical records. The AAPS filed an amicus curiae brief in that case.
"It's open season now on everyone's medical records and everyone in the country needs to start playing hide and seek with their doctor following today's ruling by District Court of Appeals in the matter of rush Limbaugh's medical records finding that there is no constitutional protection for medical records against search warrants.
"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.
"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.
"Forget about doctor shopping for pain medication, patients cannot even "doctor shop" for confidentiality anymore! Every doctor can now be turned against his patient at any time.
"The winners are investigators, insurance companies, employers, adversaries, and anyone else who wants the State to go on a fishing expedition against a citizen.
"It's dismal that only a partial dissenting opinion recognizes the right to privacy. Judge Melanie G. May chided her colleagues' failure to do so in very stern terms. She writes, 'I dissent therefore, from the majority's decision to keep its 'Eyes Wide Shut' to the right to privacy in a person's medical records.' She then cites the special nature of the doctor patient relationship dating back 2400 years to the Oath of Hippocrates.
"The Florida court rejected that Oath whereby doctors have sworn that 'I will keep to myself" what 'I may see or hear in the course of the treatment.' The new rule is that doctors ' will keep for the State' sensitive information so that it can be used against the patient.
"This 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. On Aug. 25th, both wrote together in support of a ten-year plan by the Department of Health and Human Services to establish electronic databases of medical records.
"AAPS deplores forcing doctors to testify against their patients, and will continue to fight this decision in court.
"Neither common sense nor the physician-patient privilege can stand in the way of the political witchhunt against Limbaugh. These fishing expeditions through medical records in search of a crime should not be allowed."
The AAPS, a non-partisan dues-supported professional association, has been dedicated to protection of the patient-physician relationship from third-party intrusion since 1943.
Should a person retain all copies of the medical records so the doctors do not have access to them without permission?
I don't understand. Don't doctors have a right to their patients records?
Wow. They finally found a use for all the gold stars they bought on eBay a few years ago.
Gee wonder if we can apply this to JFKerry???
This is outrageous!! We've got to get rid of these liberal judges. That bunch down in FL is bad news. First the 2000 election, then Teri's case and now Rush. It's got to stop. There's judicial tyranny like we've never had in the past. They're TOTALLY out of control.
I heard on NBC News tonight that the ACLU is supporting Rush in his appeal. Perhaps that will make a difference to these fascist judges in Florida???
Now that is irony!
The ACLU has sided with Rush since the beginning of this witch hunt.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/pdf/Rush_brief1-021704.pdf
Will SCOTUS have another opportunity to overrule SCOFLA?
""It's open season now on everyone's medical records and everyone in the country needs to start playing hide and seek with their doctor following today's ruling by District Court of Appeals in the matter of rush Limbaugh's medical records finding that there is no constitutional protection for medical records against search warrants. "
I would love to see Kerry's medical records.
What about Clinton's?
"your" medical records are, in fact, the physician's notes regarding the tests and diagnoses he makes, and treatments he administers to you. They are made for his benefit, not yours. Historically, they are the property of the physician, as evidenced by the fact that you as a patient have no legal right to demand that your doctor give you "your" medical records.
That said, the privacy of the information about you contained in those records has historically been protected by the "doctor-patient" priviledge.
The insanity of the courts ruling can be seen by substituting a lawyer's records about a client for the doctors records. Are we to believe that the State has a right to subpoena your attorney's notes containing details of what you told him in confidence under the auspicies of attorney-client priviledge, absent evidence that such conversations were in furtherance of the on-going commission of a crime?
Maybe all doctors could become lawyers or ordained clerics. Those relationships haven't been broken...yet.
Oh Good!
just where are Kerry's medical records kept?
Surely the public interest far outweighs his privacy in this case...
No worry, unless you happen to be a republican.
Actually, IIRC, your medical records do NOT actually belong to you. They belong to the doctor, and they do not have to release your own records to you.
I ran into this problem when I no longer wanted to see a former doctor (he was an orthopaedist, who managed to miss the fact that I had four broken bones in my foot!) I wanted a copy of my medical records to take with me while I shopped for a new doctor, and they refused to give them to me. I don't know if they would have sent them to another doctor or not.
Mark
Protected not only by tradition, but now by HIPPA; a Federal Law that was to protect the privacy of patients. This law has teeth too; I cannot understand how Fla. could get Rush's records without first having officially charging him with a crime which they haven't.
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