The Rush Limbaugh case shows the conflict between the laws protecting privacy of patient medical records and the need to obtain medical records by the government for probable cause. Even though no charges were filed against Mr. Limbaugh, the government obtained his medical records when they were investigating to see if he was obtaining pain medications illegally. Mr. Limbaugh and his lawyers fought the state prosecutor seizure of the medical records arguing that the state did not follow proper legal procedures in obtaining the medical records.
There is a conflict between patient right to privacy and whether a crime was committed and Mr. Limbaugh is trying to use the privacy laws to evade criminal prosecution. The state prosecutors are supposed obtain a subpoena and notify the patient about the intent to obtain medical records, and give the patient the opportunity to fight the subpoena if the patient feels it violates their privacy rights. The prosecutors are investigating Rush…show more content… The case is tricky though, there is a criminal investigation going on and a patient cannot use privacy of medical records to avoid prosecution if a crime was committed. The matter moves from ethical to criminal and a warrant was obtained to seize the medical records. A health care provider should release medical information if there is a subpoena, warrant, or a summon and some health care systems or hospitals have procedures and guidelines in place to help the medical provider follow the law. It is important to have procedures in place to determine and the provider should make sure there. Before releasing medical information, the provider should make sure the medical records are relevant to a legitimate law enforcement inquiry, the request must be specific for which the information is requested, and de-identified information could not be reasonably
