In my opinion the real danger here is that you don't just get one such ruling in a vacuum.
There is such a thing in this society as "contagion of abberation" - the pendulum swings slowly but can cut deep and long on each leg of its journey - so that while we can argue all day whether or not the public health department should, by default, be privy to our medical information, do we want to find ourselves in future months or years having this same discussion about such precepts as "innocent until proven guilty" and "freedom of speech"? Michael Kingsley calls it 'incipience' in his article "The Price of Freedom", and I find it as scary a prospect as he does. Think this is all alarmist and a bit extreme? History says otherwise. Anyone remember Nixon freezing wages and prices in 1971? And the ensuing legal and legislative problems that took a couple of years to undo? Freedom ain't free, as the man said, and its price is constant vigilance and the willingness to fight for it. As far as I'm concerned, public access of any kind to my health records without my express consent is not freedom, nor is it a good indicator in taking the temperature of a democracy. Duncan Pringle, PMP perotsystems 813.371.7284 (office) 813.891.6138 (fax) 727.244.8008 (cell) AIM: imdpringle Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Aylesworth Marc A Ctr AFRL/IFSE Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 12:48 PM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [Hardhats-members] Big brother is alive and well and living i n NYC Diabetes is not an infectious disease, if there is no impact to the community then there is no reason to disclose anything to them. This anyways is a clear case of invasion of privacy. Thanks Marc Aylesworth PAR C3I Group AFRL/IFSE Joint Battlespace Infosphere Team 525 Brooks Rd Rome, NY 13441-4505 Tel:315.330.2422 Fax:315.330.7009 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ruben Safir Sent: Monday, December 19, 2005 12:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Big brother is alive and well and living in NYC If your a diabetic your chances of hiding it from your employer is zero. In any event, no personal issues override the need for public access to health information and records. What you describe is a labor issue, not a health care issue. But for fun, how about turning that around. How would you feel hiring someone only to discover they added 60K a year in extra cost burden to your small business while losing a day a week in absenteeism because they have to make dialysis. Ruben On Mon, 2005-12-19 at 11:57, Mike Schrom wrote: > When there is a compelling public health reason, HIPPA allows for > exceptions. Typhoid, TB, Diptheria, Syphillis are still reportable > diseases. But we live in an era where information technology (like > EMR) can be misused. Would you feel the same way if you were fired > from your job because your employer found out that you were diabetic? > After all, diabetics have more health problems and therefore more absenteeism. > > Mike Schrom > > Ruben Safir wrote: > > On Sun, 2005-12-18 at 18:54, Nancy Anthracite wrote: > > > >>Well, at the rate things are going, you may get your wish. I > >>suspect patients > >>will be loathe to discuss anything with their health care provider > >>if things > >>go the way you would like. > >> > > > > > > So be it. That is a completely misplaced loyalty that your talking > > about. Typhoid Mary killed a dozen people before she was wrestled > > to the ground and removed from the public. > > > > Thousands of young girls at Woodhall hospital gave birth to HIV babies. > > Young women, in their teens and twenties, in tears because their > > babies were HIV+, not even realizing that this meant that THEY where > > HIV+, and in almost EVERY CASE, infected by lovers and men that the > > authorities KNEW were HIV+ > > > > All those women and babies died. They died because of a bunch > > fanatics who talk about "Fighting AIDS" but who refuse to the > > authorities to do what was necessary to actually save people from > > spreading it because GOD FORBID someone will find out they are shooting dope or a homosexual. > > . > > Fighting disease is a public concern every day. This is especially > > true of infective disease, but not limited to it. > > > > > > Ruben > > > > > > > >>On Sunday 18 December 2005 06:09 pm, Ruben Safir wrote: > >>I Hate HIPPA. Its a stupid law and I do not agree with the basic > >>premise that an individuals health status is a private matter. > >> > >>As a medical fact, its quite the opposite. > >> > >>In fact, the AIDS activists have blood on their hands preventing the > >>notification of family members and sex partners of their HIV status > >>and preventing social workers too tract and tract that disease such > >>as they would Gonorrhea . And they've deepened the spread of AIDS. > >> > >>All matters of health are immediate public issues and their should > >>be no right to keep your health records private. > >> > >>Ruben > >> > >>On Sun, 2005-12-18 at 00:36, Nancy Anthracite wrote: > >> > >>>No, in my opinion, you did NOT authorize it and I hope the heck the labs > >>>fight this. I suspect that the Department of Health is using > >>>something from the wording in the law that governs it to perpetuate this outrage. > >>> > >>>The last thing I read was patients could opt out, and it ought to > >>>be that > >>>they can opt in, not out. The default should be protection, not invasion, > >>>of privacy. I find this incredibly out of line and I sure hope the AMA, > >>>etc., etc, fight it tooth and nail. > >>> > >>>On Saturday 17 December 2005 10:57 pm, steven mcphelan wrote: > >>>Isn't this a violation of HIPAA? When did the labs get the > >>>patient's written approval to send their test results to a metro > >>>database unless all > >>>patient specific identifiers where removed prior to sending that > >>>data to > >>>the Health Dept. In that case it would not be a HIPAA violation. > >>> > >>>I guess I should read the waiver we all sign at the doctor's office where > >>>the specimen may be collected. Did we sign a HIPAA waiver that effective > >>>grants "pass through"? That is since I authorized the doctor to > >>>pass medical data back and forth between the lab, did I also > >>>authorize the lab > >>>to also do so without any further written approval from me? > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>>------------------------------------------------------- > >>>This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through > >>>log files for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine > >>>that makes > >>>searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! > >>>http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7637&alloc_id=16865&op=click > >>>_______________________________________________ > >>>Hardhats-members mailing list > >>>[email protected] > >>>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > >> > >>------------------------------------------------------- > >>This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through > >>log files > >>for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes > >>searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! > >>http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7637&alloc_id=16865&op=click > >>_______________________________________________ > >>Hardhats-members mailing list > >>[email protected] > >>https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through > > log files > > for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes > > searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7637&alloc_id=16865&op=click > > _______________________________________________ > > Hardhats-members mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files > for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes > searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7637&alloc_id=16865&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files for problems? Stop! 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