E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL
VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER
Vienna, Virginia http://www.909shot.com
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UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN
#9119
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"Protecting the health
and informed consent rights of children since 1982."
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PRESS RELEASE FROM HEALTH
FREEDOM INSTITUTE
For Release: August 12, 2002
Individuals Lose, Government
and Corporations Gain Control
over Personal Health &
Genetic Information
**Bush Administration Grants
Data-Processing Companies and
Other Health Care Industries
New Federal Regulatory
Authority to Collect and
Share Individuals’ Personal Health
Information--Including
Genetic Information--Without
Individuals’ Consent**
Washington, D.C.--On August
9, 2002, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
(HHS) announced it has revised the
federal medical privacy rule
initially proposed by the
Clinton Administration. HHS’s “Fact Sheet” admits that the
revised rule eliminates the
existing standard whereby
doctors must get patients’
consent before releasing
patients’ personal health
information--including genetic
information--for treatment,
payment or health care
operations (a broad
definition encompassing many uses).
Rather than allowing
individuals to decide who can see their
medical records, HHS is
granting federal regulatory
authority for
data-processing companies, insurers, some
researchers, government
officials and others to access
individuals’ personal health
information without
individuals’ permission.
Additionally, when the rule
takes effect in April 2003,
individuals’ personal health
information can be transferred
electronically over the
Internet without patients’ consent.
But most Americans won’t
know this is happening because
under the federal medical
privacy rule, citizens will not
get an accounting of
disclosures for routine uses of their
personal health information
(for which the number of routine
uses is unlimited).
“HHS’s Fact Sheet about the
federal medical privacy rule is
very misleading,” says Sue
Blevins, president of the
Institute for Health
Freedom. “That’s because while
claiming to be committed to
‘maintaining protections for the
privacy of individually
identifiable health information,’
HHS’s privacy rule does not
prevent government or the
medical industry from
compiling and sharing individuals’
personal health
information--including genetic
information--without
individuals’ permission. How can HHS
say patients’ privacy is
being enhanced when, in fact, HHS
is actually granting legal
access to patients’ records
without their consent?” She adds, “If Enron or WorldCom
executives had distorted the
truth the way HHS officials
have about the federal
medical privacy rule, they probably
would be charged with false
advertising.”
“For the first time in our
nation’s history, the federal
government has taken the
patient out of the driver’s seat
and given the medical
industry full access to individuals’
personal health information
without individuals’
permission,” Blevins notes.
For information about health
privacy issues and the
Institute for Health
Freedom, visit
www.ForHealthFreedom.org.
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ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
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