To the editor:
I am not a regular user of the standard health care system, and have managed the vast majority of my minor health-related issues at home with herbals, etc. That is why I was so appalled when I recently visited Houlton Internal Medicine for medical care.
After arriving for my appointment, I was redirected to “register,” in another area and was immediately handed a 7-page, front-and-back, small-font document titled “Notice of Privacy Practices” and urged to “sign it” while being peppered with questions, even though the top of the document clearly reads in all caps: “PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY”. In reality, it should be titled “Notice of un-Constitutional Sharing of Your Personal Information.”
I really needed the prescription I came for, and as there is no other way to get it but by being seen by a doctor, I scanned this monstrosity as quickly as I could and signed it with the language below my signature (paraphrasing) “Subject to further detailed review and acceptance of my amendment requests.”
I do not know how old you are, but as a 55-year-old former history teacher, who has taught the Constitution, let me enlighten you to the fact that this document is an egregious violation of every patient’s 4th Amendment rights. I object to many parts of it, but am asking for you to accept my amendment requests, asking you to strike just a few sections in exchange for my acquiescence to this document:
– Your “business associates” (pg. 3) I am not interested in my records being made available to anyone outside of Houlton Internal Medicine.
– “Health Oversight Activities” (pg. 4) You state in this section that this is needed “for the government to monitor the healthcare system.” This is a blatant fallacy. The government, under the supreme law of the land (which can not be violated by anyone, even liberal Supreme Court justices) has NO ROLE in “healthcare” and I am not interested in giving the government access to my health records.
– “National Security & Intelligence Activities” (pg. 4) Again, this is an unwarranted and extreme violation of my 4th Amendment rights. The government’s bogus “war on terror” (and war on anyone questioning their illegal and un-Constitutional seizure of the privacy rights of all Americans) is not defensible, even if you think it will help them with “intelligence, counter-intelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.” Again, no “law” trumps the 4th Amendment, no matter what some liberal justice may say about it.
– “Protective Services for the President” (pg. 4) Seriously? You really think it is appropriate to share my records with “authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President?”
– Fundraising. (pg. 4) I am surprised to learn that you still need to raise funds outside of this new Obamacare “healthcare” regime, and am not currently interested in being part of such efforts.
The patients of the southern Aroostook area deserve to know what is in this document, as the way it is presented to them for immediate signature when they “register” almost certainly assures, to this point in time, that they have not read it.
