Index

The NSA, Privacy, and the Law

Now that we  know that the NSA logs and potentially listens to every telephone call and reads every e-mail, what are those in the medical profession to do to communicate with their patients?  I believe that HIPPA puts a burden of maintaining medical records privacy onto the the doctors, practices and hospitals  where we receive our care.  What are those that bear legal responsibility for these records supposed to do to communicate with their patients?

I suppose the only thing that is not covered by the NSA’s dragnet is old-fashioned snail mail, so (if I understand correctly), the medical profession cannot share, discuss or transfer any medical information except in person or by snail mail - the big push for electronic records has just run into a major snag.  I would hate to do this to my doctor, but it seems like any sort of records transfer via the internet or telephone is now a knowing violation of the legal privacy requirements of HIPPA - the NSA is not a medical care provider and has absolutely nothing to do with my care, yet every records transfer or discussion that travels via the internet or by telephone (including FAX) is quite probably captured by them.

Because knowledge of the NSA privacy violations is now in the public domain and accepted as true - even the NSA has had to admit to them - the medical profession needs to figure out a new way to transfer records that does not get captured by the NSA, or face massive HIPPA violations.  I suspect that there could be more than one person with a bone to pick with a hospital or doctor that would make a useful test case, and if the ACLU doesn’t want to take the case as amicus and perhaps even a legal sponsor, perhaps the EFF would step in.

Think about this the next time your doctor faxes a prescription to your pharmacy - is that a HIPPA violation when the NSA is known to capture it?