Are HIPAA Privacy Rules Too Restrictive?

Anthony Rudine -- The other day, just before I left to go home, I was walking through the hospital to finish some things – the usual daily tasks – and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an old friend. I was not completely sure, but after walking back across the doorway once again, I was indeed correct. I walked in to say hello, and it turned out that this old friend of mine was there visiting with another friend's mother, who had recently been admitted to the hospital.

After some brief "hellos" and "how have you beens" this old friend inquired if I knew anything about the patient’s condition. My reply? No, I don’t, I’m sorry.

Here is where the story gets a little tricky, so be sure to pay attention. My other friend, the patient’s daughter, by way of the patient, asked if I could look and see if there was anything serious going on that they should be concerned about. Not a good question to get, ever.

I knew this would be a HIPAA violation, so I went to speak with the physician, and certainly not look anything up.

I stalled for a minute outside the room and then went back in to say that I was not allowed to look anything up in the computer system about the patient’s condition, etc.

I'm not saying that I did not want to look it up. I'm not saying that it made sense for me not to look it up, because it didn’t. I'm just saying that I didn’t do it, because we all know that would be illegal. And I don’t want to break any laws here.

The problem I have with this is the following: this patient, and her loved ones, knew nothing of her condition. They did not know the severity of the condition. They did not have the slightest idea of the prognosis. And they were simply asking for some information. No doubt they asked their physician earlier in the day, and were not given satisfactory information. No doubt the same questions were posed, but went unanswered. And here I was, in a position to help, but restricted by the guidelines of a poorly written law.

Does this make any sense to you? It certainly doesn’t to me. A patient is asking for their own health information, which I had access to, and I could not give it to her. I could not tell her if she needed to phone other family members to come to the hospital, or if this was something she should be worried about. I could give her nothing but an apology.

What a load of bull. Was I supposed to get this patient to sign a release and authorize me to tell her how sick she was? It seems grossly unfair to patients that healthcare providers are restricted from doing their primary job – helping those in need, in case you forgot – because an obscure and overwhelming law precludes my actions. Make all of the good apples pay for the few bad ones. That seems to be the logic here.

What supporters of HIPAA fail to realize is that it is not the physicians who lose here – it is the patients.

Am I wrong?