[butterdezillion]

What does that do for birth certificates? I would assume that they can disclose on a birth certificate that they were present at a birth...

And I’ve never understood how news reports can say that a person is in critical condition or whatever. Isn’t that protected medical information? How could they even report rescue calls, or anything without signed consent from the person? Did they ever get consent to reveal that the underwear bomber or Nidal Hasan were being treated for injuries?

HIPAA makes no sense to me. If a person’s physical condition is their own private business all the time, then nobody should be reporting on any of it without the express permission of the person - which they could never get for somebody unconscious, for example.

[sometime lurker]

What does that do for birth certificates? I would assume that they can disclose on a birth certificate that they were present at a birth... And I’ve never understood how news reports can say that a person is in critical condition or whatever. Isn’t that protected medical information? How could they even report rescue calls, or anything without signed consent from the person? Did they ever get consent to reveal that the underwear bomber or Nidal Hasan were being treated for injuries? HIPAA makes no sense to me. If a person’s physical condition is their own private business all the time, then nobody should be reporting on any of it without the express permission of the person - which they could never get for somebody unconscious, for example.

I agree that HIPAA doesn't always make sense - especially to those of us that deal with it all the time!

• They can put the information on the birth certificate, because the certificate itself is protected health information. The idea behind HIPAA is that the patient "owns" the information, and the patient, rather than hospital or doctor, gets to decide how and when it is disclosed.
• I'm not a lawyer, but HIPAA prevents "covered entities" such as hospitals from disclosing information. It does not prevent the media from saying anything they please, including deducing that someone in police custody taken to a hospital is being treated for injuries.

[bgill]

Does HIPAA cover a person who’s been dead for a year and a half? It’s one thing for Hussein’s attorneys to hide his personal records, but it’s entirely different to hide Madelyn’s.