Cameron Langford reports: Texas illegally “sold, trade, bartered and distributed” babies’ blood to private companies and the Pentagon without asking or telling their parents, after taking the blood as part of Texas’ “mandatory newborn screening program,” parents claim in a federal class action. Blood from 8,800 babies was sold or traded for lab equipment from…
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NC Judge: Hospital Employees Must Get Flu Shot
Can’t say that I’m surprised by this one. Here’s the outcome of a workplace case mentioned previously on this blog: The fight over flu shots at Anderson Area Medical Center is over and an employee who filed suit to keep the hospital from firing her if she didn’t get a shot has a deadline. The judge…
NYCLU Calls for Greater Privacy Protections as New York Transitions to Electronic Medical Records
At a joint hearing of two New York City Council committees (on Tuesday), the New York Civil Liberties Union raised serious privacy concerns related to New York State’s ongoing transition to electronic medical records. “Sharing health information among health care providers will likely benefit patients greatly, but to recognize this benefit we need to take…
CO Medical Marijuana Rules: Law Enforcement Trumps Patient Privacy
Over on TalkLeft, Jeralyn writes: One step forward, two steps back. Colorado’s proposed regulations on medical marijuana are 90 pages long. You can read them here. As part of her discussion, she quotes (via Westword) the Cannabis Therapy Institute: The Colorado constitution sets up a confidential registry run by the state health department,” she continues, “and the only reason…
PA: Physicians group wants to drop federal lawsuit
Tim Darragh reports: A subsidiary of Lehigh Valley Health Network that sued a physician group over an alleged breach of confidential patient information now wants to drop the complaint. Lehigh Valley Physician Group, the subsidiary, Monday filed a brief in federal court in Allentown seeking to drop its complaint against MDVIP Inc. of Boca Raton,…
WikiLeaks Breach Raises Concern About Privacy of Electronic Medical Records
The embarrassing leak of a quarter-million State Department documents by WikiLeaks has recharged the debate over electronic medical records, raising concern that the government may not be capable of safeguarding Americans’ most intimate health care secrets when their records go digital. Doctors and privacy advocates alike are pointing to the havoc wreaked by WikiLeaks founder…