4 ms·

IANAL but why would HIPPA not apply to these medical records?

• gojomo 8y ago
  IANAL but from a quick review of some online authorities, maybe it'd apply. It might depend on exactly how the relevant agencies are classified – are they a health clinic themselves? The restrictions might be waiveable administratively for a popular cause, or violations might have no consequences when happening between chummy government agencies. (Who'll prosecute, and what effective penalties/remedies could be applied, if a governor/president commands coordination between two agencies under their control?) And given the trends in broad warrants, I'm not sure a future court wouldn't offer a warrant to sequence-all-the-spots and search for hits with some heinous criminals' samples.
  • thinkcontext 8y ago
    HIPPA expires 50 years after a person dies, perhaps in the future these cards will be sequenced and crimes with DNA can be narrowed down to descendants.
    • gojomo 8y ago
      Good point! This mass, automatic screening began in the late 1960s, so for any states that have retained most/all spots since then, millions of samples would become available for sequencing, despite any possible HIPPA limitations… right about now.