Editorial: Don’t gut new privacy guidelines

Tuesday, April 10, 2001 | 9:09 a.m.

The Bush administration wants to weaken some of the strict rules governing medical privacy that the Clinton administration adopted last year. The White House appears poised to bow to the health care industry's concerns, which include arguments that they're unworkable and too costly. But these are just smoke screens offered by some doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to avoid doing the right thing: getting a patient's consent before releasing his medical records. Tweaking of the rules may be in order, but a wholesale retreat should be dismissed by the White House.

The matter of privacy between patient and doctor isn't as simple as it once was. As Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a supporter of the privacy rules, said recently: "We've moved from an era when the doctor and the nurse locked our families' medical records into a cabinet so that nobody could see them." Today insurance companies are inextricably linked to health care -- and they can maximize profits by selling highly sought-after medical information to other health care firms. But this unauthorized release of medical records to outsiders abuses patients' privacy rights. Add to the mix the advent of the Internet, and the problem is compounded because it increases the jeopardy that this sensitive information can get into the wrong hands. According to the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University, which backs medical privacy protections, there have been a n umber of notable releases of medical data -- both accidental and willful. For instance, a computer hacker downloaded medica! l records and Social Security numbers of about 5,000 patients at the University of Washington Medical Center.

While some health care providers contend that the rules will put more distance between doctors and patients, the fact is that unless privacy safeguards are put in place, patients will be less forthcoming about their complete medical histories and ailments if they fear that this information will be forwarded to their employers or other health care companies that want the information for marketing purposes. What goes on between a patient and his doctor -- and that includes the patient's medical records -- should be kept private unless the patient gives his consent to release his records.