If they don’t know who you are they can’t go to YOUR dentist, right? Is there a National database that stores all of our our bitewings – I don’t remember consenting to that! And teeth look a lot alike on those X-rays – do you need special training to tell one set apart from another?
In: 1811
> I don’t remember consenting to that!
Notably, your medical records are not barred from being turned over to law enforcement if there’s a warrant for them. HIPAA law says that “[t]he Privacy Rule permits use and disclosure of protected health information, without an individual’s authorization or permission, for 12 national priority purposes”, one of which reads (emphasis mine):
>Covered entities may disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials for law enforcement purposes under the following six circumstances, and subject to specified conditions: (1) as required by law (including court orders, court-ordered warrants, subpoenas) and administrative requests; **(2) to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person**; **(3) in response to a law enforcement official’s request for information about a victim or suspected victim of a crime;** (4) to alert law enforcement of a person’s death, if the covered entity suspects that criminal activity caused the death; (5) when a covered entity believes that protected health information is evidence of a crime that occurred on its premises; and (6) by a covered health care provider in a medical emergency not occurring on its premises, when necessary to inform law enforcement about the commission and nature of a crime, the location of the crime or crime victims, and the perpetrator of the crime.
Source: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html
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