Fri, 13 Feb 2004 01:11:46 GMT

Private No More.

The New York Times reports that “The Justice Department is demanding that at least six hospitals … turn over hundreds of patient medical records on certain abortions performed there.” This is necessary, they claim, in order to defend the new prohibition on “partial birth” abortions. This is bad enough, since as David Seldin, a spokesman for Naral Pro-Choice America, puts it: “This notion of John Ashcroft poring over medical records in a fairly unprecedented type of fishing expedition is exactly the type of privacy invasion that worries people.”

But the real news comes in paragraph 15, where we learn that the Justice Department argued that in light of “modern medical practice” and the growth of third party insurers, “individuals no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential.”

[Crooked Timber]

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no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential….. oh well… it isn't that important is it? unless well they raise insurance rates or fail to give us medical service… hmmm, hmmm?