2001 Ron Paul 39:1
Thank you for your interest in
revising the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) medical
privacy regulations. I respectfully urge HHS to revise those sections
of the bill that reduce medical privacy by allowing the government
increased access to medical records.
2001 Ron Paul 39:2
According to a Gallop survey
commissioned
by the Institute for Health Freedom, 92% of Americans oppose allowing
government agencies to have access to medical records without patient
consent. The American people are more opposed to government agencies
having unfettered access to medical records than they are to any
private party, with the exception of financial institutions, having
access to their medical history. Yet HHS’s rule increases the power of
government agencies to seize medical records without consent!
2001 Ron Paul 39:3
HHS should ensure that the
regulation
complies with the letter and spirit of the fourth amendment by
requiring that law enforcement officials obtain a valid search warrant
before seizing private medical records. The requirement that law
enforcement officials obtain a warrant from a judge before searching
private documents is one of the fundamental protections against abuse
of the government’s power to seize an individual’s private documents.
While the fourth amendment has been interpreted to allow warrantless
searches in emergency situations, it is hard to conceive of a situation
where law enforcement officials would be unable to obtain a warrant
before electronic medical records would be destroyed.
2001 Ron Paul 39:4
HHS should also eliminate those
sections
which require physicians to provide the federal government with
personal medical records for purposes of monitoring compliance with the
rule. HHS should only collect information if the physicians or the
federal government has obtained written permission from the patient
allowing HHS to obtain their records.
2001 Ron Paul 39:5
HHS should also repeal those
sections of
the regulations that provide private parties with a right to access
private medical records for reasons unrelated to treatment.
Particularly offensive are those sections which allow medical
researchers to access private records without individual consent. While
researchers claim to be able to protect the autonomy of their unwilling
subjects, the fact is that allowing third parties to use medical
records for research purposes runs the risk of inadvertent
identification of personal medical information. I am aware of at least
one incident where a man had his identity revealed when his medical
records were used without his consent. As a result, many people in his
community discovered details of his medical history that he wished to
keep private!
2001 Ron Paul 39:6
I am also aware that some will
make the
argument that there is a "social good" in medical research that
outweighs the individual’s right to privacy. As a physician, I
certainly recognize the value and importance of medical research.
However, as a legislator, I also recognize that because people have a
property interest in their medical information, forcing individuals to
divulge medical information without their consent runs afoul of the
fifth amendment’s taking clause, which was designed to prevent
sacrifices of individual liberty and property for the "common good."
2001 Ron Paul 39:7
In a free society, such as the
one
envisioned by the drafters of the Constitution, the federal government
should never force a citizen to divulge personal information to advance
"important social goals." Rather, it should be up to the individuals,
not the government, to determine what social goals are important enough
to warrant allowing others access to their personal property, including
their personal information. To the extent these regulations sacrifice
individual rights in the name of a bureaucratically-determined "common
good," they are incompatible with a constitutional government that
respects individual liberty.
2001 Ron Paul 39:8
Finally, Secretary Thompson, if
HHS is
going to collect private medical records, the medical privacy rule
should then explicitly forbid the federal government from permanently
storing any medical information on a federally maintained or funded
database. Previous experience with federal collection of information
demonstrates the need for an explicit ban on creating a database. For
example, despite repeated assurances they would not do so, the Bureau
of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is using their authority to conduct
background checks under the Brady Law to compile a database of every
gun owner in America!
2001 Ron Paul 39:9
In conclusion, I once again
respectfully
request that the Department of Health and Human Services amend the
medical privacy rule to require a search warrant before government
officials may seize medical records. I also request that HHS remove all
sections of the rule that give private parties (particularly
researchers) a federal right to access medical records without consent
for purposes unrelated to treatment. Furthermore, if HHS is going to
continue to allow the Federal Government to collect medical information
for any reason, HHS must explicitly provide that none of the
information collected under the authority given HHS, or any other
federal agency, will be stored in a federally maintained or funded
database. Thank you for your consideration of my views, which,
according to the Gallup poll, are shared by the vast majority of
Americans.
Notes:
This letter did not appear in Congressional Record. A copy was on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
2001 Ron Paul 39:3
fourth amendment probably should be capitalized: Fourth Amendment in both instances.
2001 Ron Paul 39:5
autonomy makes little sense here, and possibly should be identity or anonymity.
2001 Ron Paul 39:6
fifth amendment’ probably should be capitalized: Fifth Amendment’.
2001 Ron Paul 39:7
bureaucratically-determined probably should be unhyphenated: bureaucratically determined.
2001 Ron Paul 39:9
Federal Government probably should not be capitalized: federal government.
This chapter appeared in Ron Paul’s Congressional website at http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2001/cr052301B.htm
