3 ms·

Yikes. Shouldn't this information be protected under HIPPAA or something?

schoen 11y ago
(Edit: dragonwriter's comment also makes the important practical point that these entities aren't HIPAA-covered in the first place!) Take a look at "Law Enforcement Purposes" within "Permitted Uses and Disclosures" in the Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/i... Law Enforcement Purposes. Covered entities may disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials for law enforcement purposes under the following six circumstances, and subject to specified conditions: (1) as required by law (including court orders, court-ordered warrants, subpoenas) and administrative requests; (2) to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; (3) in response to a law enforcement official’s request for information about a victim or suspected victim of a crime; (4) to alert law enforcement of a person’s death, if the covered entity suspects that criminal activity caused the death; (5) when a covered entity believes that protected health information is evidence of a crime that occurred on its premises; and (6) by a covered health care provider in a medical emergency not occurring on its premises, when necessary to inform law enforcement about the commission and nature of a crime, the location of the crime or crime victims, and the perpetrator of the crime.
olewhalehunter 11y ago
Applying the same standards of health information protection mechanisms fully to authorized guns would require all sorts of other reforms, like drug law: what's to keep a police officer that arrests a corporate executive on cocaine or prostitution charges from dumping stocks on that company? All human activity could be considered "health information" by the issues HIPPAA claims to address with it.
dragonwriter 11y ago
HIPAA only affects information held by covered entities (mostly health care providers, health plans, and their business associates.) 23andMe, Ancestry.com, etc., are not HIPAA covered entities, and thus HIPAA has no effect on them, even before considering whether the type of disclosure discussed would be allowed if HIPAA applied.

(Edit: dragonwriter's comment also makes the important practical point that these entities aren't HIPAA-covered in the first place!) Take a look at "Law Enforcement Purposes" within "Permitted Uses and Disclosures" in the Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/i... Law Enforcement Purposes. Covered entities may disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials for law enforcement purposes under the following six circumstances, and subject to specified conditions: (1) as required by law (including court orders, court-ordered warrants, subpoenas) and administrative requests; (2) to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; (3) in response to a law enforcement official’s request for information about a victim or suspected victim of a crime; (4) to alert law enforcement of a person’s death, if the covered entity suspects that criminal activity caused the death; (5) when a covered entity believes that protected health information is evidence of a crime that occurred on its premises; and (6) by a covered health care provider in a medical emergency not occurring on its premises, when necessary to inform law enforcement about the commission and nature of a crime, the location of the crime or crime victims, and the perpetrator of the crime.

olewhalehunter 11y ago

Applying the same standards of health information protection mechanisms fully to authorized guns would require all sorts of other reforms, like drug law: what's to keep a police officer that arrests a corporate executive on cocaine or prostitution charges from dumping stocks on that company? All human activity could be considered "health information" by the issues HIPPAA claims to address with it.

dragonwriter 11y ago

HIPAA only affects information held by covered entities (mostly health care providers, health plans, and their business associates.) 23andMe, Ancestry.com, etc., are not HIPAA covered entities, and thus HIPAA has no effect on them, even before considering whether the type of disclosure discussed would be allowed if HIPAA applied.