Release: "Medical Privacy" Doesn't Mean Privacy

[Kent Snyder-The Liberty Committee]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday, March 22, 2001

Contact:  Kent Snyder, 703-241-1003
E-mail:  mailto:kentsnyder at thelibertycommittee.org
Web site:  http://www.thelibertycommittee.org
The Liberty Committee
701 W. Broad St., Fifth Floor
Falls Church, VA  22046

"MEDICAL PRIVACY" DOESN'T MEAN PRIVACY IN WASHINGTON

"Washington's dirty little secret is out -- the so-called 'final federal
medical privacy rule' recently announced by the federal government
gives us less privacy, not more," stated Kent Snyder of The Liberty
Committee.

Section 160.310: Grants the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services access to a person's medical information without his consent
or a warrant.

Section 164.512: Grants many third parties access to a person's medical
information (including genetic information) without his written,
informed, non-coerced (as in "sign away your right to privacy or we will
deny treatment") consent.

Sections 164.502 and 164.506: The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services has the ultimate authority to decide who can access your
medical records without your informed consent.

"The truth is that laced throughout the 367-page federal medical privacy
rule are provisions that actually give a patient less control over his
own medical records than he currently has.  At the same time, these
regulations give federal, state, and local governmental agencies --
along with insurance companies, HMOs and others -- more access
and more control than the patient himself has," Kent Snyder stated.

Reacting to growing public concern, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services Secretary Tommy Thompson reopened the comment period on these
deceptive "privacy" regulations.  Unfortunately, in order for a
citizen's comment to be acceptable, it must follow guidelines as to form
and content -- thus ensuring that many well-meant and deeply felt
concerns will be discarded as simply not in compliance. As a public
service, The Liberty Committee is providing a free on-line petition that
meets the guidelines for comments and reminds Washington what the true
definition of "privacy" is.

The petition can be found at
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/medprivacypetition.htm .

The Liberty Committee is a nationwide, grassroots organization of over
51,000 Americans whose goal is to defend and advance liberty by
restoring our national government to its constitutional limitations.

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