As with most everyone else, I am watching the Presidential race with something akin to amusement and horror alike. And as with many people, I feel that the US, as a nation, failed to find a suitable candidate for this Presidential election. While there does need to be some test for fitness for office, I remain aghast at the medical speculations and facts being leaked about the Presidential candidates. Reading this article in the Washington Times, I am troubled about the lack of privacy allowed to these individuals’ health. And this is all merely speculation as no medical records are provided, as they should Never be. This is truly a breach in HIPAA laws by the media, the politicians and public alike.
Yes, we need assurance that anyone elected to the oval office is healthy enough to serve the term. But, that is all we are entitled to know. According to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) passed by Congress in 1996, there is a national standard to protecting individuals’ medical records and health information. Safeguards were set in place to ensure health information remains private and protected. It applies to all patients receiving medical care in our nation. There are no exceptions for holding a certain job title or position.
As a family doctor, I often fill out forms and write letters for fitness for work. Never once did I include a diagnosis or symptoms unless a patient requested it and signed a form authorizing me to release these confidential records. Under the law, we are not allowed to. If someone called and asked about a patient’s medical information, they would be told that we cannot release this information. This information is protected and only a patient can decide who they wish to see it.
And we need this privacy. Patients need to come tell their doctors many embarrassing details. Imagine if they believed anyone could learn this information. Would someone concerned about a sexually transmitted disease feel free to tell their doctor everything without this guarantee of privacy? No, they would not and this may put others at risk of contracting the disease because the patient doesn’t want to see the doctor because they don’t want anyone to know.
The details we are seeing in the media about the health of both candidates is merely speculation. There are doctors analyzing the media reports to try to diagnose the candidates. But, real doctors know you cannot diagnose a patient through a journalist’s reports on a TV screen or a new story. Is that really the standard you want to set? You want to fuel the fire by speculating on the speculations> Do we want patients to think they are fair game for this speculation? No, this needs to stop. Patients need to know they can trust their doctor with anything and give them the best medical information.
While the politicians fling the mud and the media builds mud houses, isn’t the US better than this? Are we really saying that patients with certain diseases should not work certain jobs? Is that message American people should be hearing?
As for me, many of my patients taught me that people can achieve amazing successes despite great suffering and adversity. Isn’t that the goal we should be striving for rather than casting stones at someone’s infirmities?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016 Linda Girgis, MD, FAAFP
Just speaking to the issue of privacy and patients being able to speak with their doctor in confidence, the advent of electronic records is seriously jeopardizing that. Earlier this year I went to a doctor that I had never met before and whose practice I had never been to. I had not filled out a patient history form for him, yet he walked into the room stating my family’s cancer history. While there was nothing for me to hide in that regard, it told me that if there was something of a more personal nature that had nothing to do with what I was seeing him for that he’d of seen that other info too. If anybody and everybody in the medical world has access to the entirety of a patient’s health records, it stands to reason that the media will find a way to get ahold of that info too for politicians, celebrities, and anyone else that is newsworthy. And they will find armchair experts to speculate in support of whatever slant they want to take.
Totally agree with that!