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WHITE PLAINS – Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey was joined today by local doctors to discuss a looming threat to Americans’ medical privacy. In a press conference at the office of Westchester Gynecologists and Obstetricians, PC, they said that U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoenas for thousands of women’s medical records could have detrimental impacts to our privacy rights.
“The Department of Justice is violating medical privacy laws, plain and simple,” said Lowey. “Law-abiding citizens in the greatest democracy in the world should have confidence that their medical records will be kept private. But, Attorney General John Ashcroft apparently doesn’t believe in the privacy laws he is charged with enforcing.”
DOJ has violated the privacy rights of women in New York and throughout the nation who have lawfully terminated pregnancies. It has subpoenaed medical records from hospitals and Planned Parenthood clinics for thousands of women, claiming that information regarding legal abortion procedures is necessary to defend the so-called “partial-birth” abortion ban, which was enacted in November 2003.
Two U.S. District Courts – one in Chicago and another in California – have forced DOJ to back off its subpoenas for law-abiding women’s medical records. However, New York Southern District Judge Richard Conway Casey ordered New York hospitals – including Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, and St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center – to comply with the subpoenas.
These subpoenas clearly violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed by Congress in 1996, to protect patients against the disclosure of personal health information. It also undermines the sanctity of doctor-patient confidentiality, which could discourage patients from seeking needed care if they fear their health records could be made public.
Dr. Barry Meisel of Westchester Gynecologists and Obstetricians, PC, said, “We support unequivocally any and all attempts to stop Attorney General Ashcroft from invading medical records for any purpose. Patients have the right to know that when they have any procedure done, their confidentiality is protected, as has been made clear by HIPAA regulations. It should not be the business of the government to invade their privacy, nor jeopardize the doctor-patient relationship.”
Furthermore, DOJ’s actions contradict the Bush Administration’s earlier pledges to protect medical privacy. In 2001, President Bush said he would fight to protect “the right of every American to have confidence that his or her personal medical records will remain private.” [The New York Times, March 6, 2004.]
“In its zeal to take away a woman’s right to choose, this Administration is backtracking on its word, breaking the law, and threatening the medical privacy of every single American,” Lowey said.
Last month, Lowey joined other Members of Congress in signing a letter to Ashcroft, urging him to withdraw the subpoenas and abandon DOJ’s position that “our system of laws affords no privacy protection for the doctor-patient relationship.”
In a recent hearing, she pressed Secretary Tommy Thompson of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees medical privacy laws, to explain his actions to uphold those measures in light of DOJ’s pursuit of these records. He backed away from his earlier pledges to protect patient privacy, saying this issue is a matter for the courts.
“This is simply unacceptable and could set a dangerous precedent. Today, DOJ wants medical records. What’s next? Will our employers have access to our mental health records? Will insurance companies be allowed to view health histories before deciding whether to cover patients?” Lowey asked. “This is a dangerous, slippery slope that threatens the very foundations of our democracy. I urge the Attorney General to strongly consider what is truly at stake and withdraw these subpoenas immediately.” |
