Our government corruption has achieved new levels of exploitation of private citizens in order to perpetuate government jobs that daily surprise few who have followed the use of "technological advancements" by our alleged "representatives. In North Carolina, the HIPAA law has been used as corruptly as the "executive privilege" law has been used by past "representatives" promoting their own agenda and welfare against those paying their salaries.
North Carolina, as one of the comments to the following cited article notes is an "old boy network" ranging from those in more powerful positions to the endless state and local employees given "preference" in job appointments if they have "other family members working for government." (http://www.newsobserver.com/2771/story/1339434.html)
In a scathing article about the people being abused in one branch of public confinement, mental health institutions, it is reported that:
"But as Dempsey Benton nears the end of his time as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, his department is becoming less transparent, not more.
His subordinates are increasingly relying on broad interpretations of patient privacy restrictions to block public access to information about hospital deaths and reported abuse."
From rape to the more common mistreatment of everyone under the care of some institutionally protected NC governmental branch, it's amazing not only for its corruption but for the response of those whose misconduct is exposed: We're operating within the law and I dare you to prove we're not. Because in NC, the preference for government over people is evident from the school attendance office that boasts via a small placard to its students that "NO is an answer," to the individuals whose loved ones have been shot down by police officers on "paid administrative leave" until it's determined their murder was justified to the mentally ill who watch HIPAA be used as a means of making sure nobody ever learns of the horrors they endure at the hands of people being paid for by the state.
The lesson is simple, values and ethics are necessary in order for any tool to be used fairly, wisely and effectively. HIPAA does not protect patients, usually. Your privacy is not protected from insurance companies seeking to disqualify you from medical treatment nor from them using that information to charge you more moving forward...you have to sign away your privacy to even have them consider your claim.
But as NC shows, HIPAA is an effective means of protecting perpetrators within the mental health field.
Years ago, exposes that informed the public of the outrageous conduct of its officials were the beginning of public outcry that eventually got things changed. But with so many people employed by that government and collecting government benefits, we've created a society of abettors, whose silence mirrors their fear and willingness to ignore problems because they've got a job.
HIPAA doesn't work for any patient. NC is one example of this fact.
