HIPAA and Senate Bill 5305

It was recently reported in the media that a missing Oregon man was in a local hospital for two days while friends and police looked for him. He was a diabetic and had been reported missing by friends who could not locate the elderly gentleman.

Authorities contacted local hospitals while looking for him and apparently police were not told he was a patient out of respect (or probably fear of) HIPAA laws. This federal law protects the privacy of a person’s medical information. So for days, public resources were expended in a useless search and friends were subjected to worry and effort searching for someone who was safe and sound nearby in the hospital.

What a bunch of nonsense. In these troubling times of increasing criminal conduct and in the face of scarce police and local resources, the denial of simple information by a hospital to a law enforcement agency that a missing person was safe and being treated shows a complete lack of common sense in the application of this privacy law.

The Washington legislature is deciding whether to pass Senate Bill 5305. This law would require hospitals or emergency rooms to report to local Law Enforcement agencies when a person is admitted for a gunshot wound. There are other aspects of the bill, but this is a major element. This is a good law and could potentially solve crimes, conserve resources and promote justice by giving Law Enforcement information they need when searching for someone who was either missing or was wanted in a criminal investigation.

Opponents say the law violates a person’s right to privacy of medical information. In my view, even if it does, revealing such information is a minimal intrusion into a person’s privacy should be allowed in certain situations. It should not be possible for a wounded wanted person to go to a hospital and out of respect for his “rights” the hospital not be allowed to tell law enforcement that the suspect is there. Hospitals should not be a haven in which criminals are able to hide from Law Enforcement. Neither should Law Enforcement have to obtain a search warrant in order to find out if someone has been admitted for care.

We as citizens should have the right to protect ourselves from the lawless among us. Passing laws that allow health care providers to acknowledge to Law Enforcement agencies that a person is in the hospital or was admitted for treatment of a gunshot wound only makes sense. Maybe it will also make sense to a majority in the halls of that distant land in Olympia.

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