"David A. Bandel" wrote: > > OK, I'm not a lawyer, but I've been around enough of them to know a couple > of things: 1. Your (or my) interpretation of something as general as > what's written in the fourth (or any other) amendment is not necessarily > what you'd like to interpret it as. 2. Just because it looks like a duck, > quacks like a duck, walks and swims like a duck, doesn't make it a duck.
Very true. If it were as clear as we hoped, we'd still be writing it to include or exclude specific things and it wouldn't be reinterpreted constantly in courts of law. > It can be argued that "your" medical records aren't yours at all. That > those papers are the property of the physician, not you. If you write > "David Bandel is, in my considered opinion, an idiot" and sign it -- is > the paper that that's written on yours or mine? It has my name and an > "evaluation" about me. Ditto for your medical records. But that paper is > yours, not mine. If a physician is charged with malpractice, the records > in question are seized. The seizure papers are not served on you as the > patient, but on the Dr (whose records they are). Same is true if you go > to a lawyer and he puts together a file on you. It's not yours, so the > 4th Amendment doesn't pertain to "your" medical records. Also true in that the *owner* of the documents in question contain information relevant to the prosecution of such. That doesn't however provide a loophole in which that the information can be used for anything other than it's relevant purpose, thus the closure of courtrooms to the public when these issues arise. Usually a judge will not allow irrelevant or inadmissable evidence if it, when relesed to the public could be construed as slanderous. There's a CYA factor considered. > Go to the last hospital you were admitted to and tell them you want "your" > medical records because ... (take them home for study, etc.). Not! > They're not yours. They are the institutions for their mandated (by law) > requirement to keep records on treatment you (or anyone else) received at > their facilities. Not yours. Also true. Still doesn't mean they can do with them as they please though. You do have the right to them as copies of their originals, and they can't release them without compliance with their legal obligations, so your protection isn't negated by this. > What you're talking about is a reasonable right to privacy and that the > hospital, doctor, etc., will respect that reasonable right to privacy and > not show me, Joe Dipstick, medical information about you that I don't need > to know. > > Big difference here, reasonable right to privacy vs. 4th amendment > protection from unreasonable seizure (of your person, house, papers, > effects). > > Medical records are _not_ covered by the 4th Amendment. Try again. Quite possibly an interpretaion of the amendment itself. It's merely the one that is most closely applicable to this question. I'm sure that there are many more laws that are neither amendments, nor as broad in coverage as an amendment is intended to be. However, if it's not covered, why is the necessity of changing a law even being debated? There's obviously more that's applicable in relevance than simple definition. Do "right to privacy" and "unreasonable searches and seizures" not have more commonality than differences? I'll stand behind the first try. <g> > Again, I'm not a lawyer, just playing Devil's Advocate here. > <snip> Ditto. I see it as a comparison between what we expect it to be, and what it really is, with no clear definition yet. Not really a difference of opinion, just a difference of interpretation and expectations. Debate is good for the soul and the mind. > Ciao, > > David A. Bandel <snip> -- Andrew Mathews ------------------------------------------------------------ 12:35pm up 6 days, 45 min, 5 users, load average: 1.03, 1.02, 1.00 ------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list - http://linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Archives,and Digests are located at the above URL.
