Letter: Congress needs to ensure medical records kept private

Friday, Aug. 6, 1999 | 9:56 a.m.

I find it truly amazing that we have strong privacy protections in place for video rental records, but not for sensitive medical records.

Why do we need a federal medical privacy law? Health records contain highly personal information. Yet, under current, law, individuals have virtually no control over the information in their health records.

Health records are being bought and sold for commercial gain, disclosed to employers, and used to deny individuals insurance. Not only is this an invasion of our privacy, but it may adversely affect patient care.

Some patients, fearing that their records are not safe, are withholding important personal health information from their doctors.

As the medical privacy debate progresses, many people will speak for industries that stand to make money from the use and misuse of information.

For them, medical records are commodities to be bought and sold. But people are not commodities. The group Congress should listen to most will be hardest to hear -- patients and their families.

I plan to work with the Senate and my fellow colleagues in the House to ensure that they are not silenced.

SHELLEY BERKLEY Nevada congresswoman