medical question

"Sylvain" wrote in message
t...
Jay Beckman wrote:

(Do you
seriously believe that HIPPA protects your privacy?)

Yes I do.

well I don't.

But then I'm married to a Human Resources professional who know more
about
it than I. She's got some "great" stories about how she can't ask
certain
questions even when an employee is face down on the office floor having
had a stroke.

I got a few fun stories too; I no longer count the number of 'illegal'
questions I got asked during job interviews or during the course of
employment, e.g., age, marital status, nature of my disability -- I
walk on crutches -- prying questions about my ethnic background -- I have
a funny accent and an exotic name -- etc.

Did you pursue the matter or just stew and bitch? You get no sympathy here
if all you ever did was just roll over and take it. Laws don't work in a
vaccuum. They exsist to redress wrongs but nothing happens if someone
doesn't yell foul.

Not to mention unsolicited commercial mail that uses information that
either employers or health care providers should have kept to themselves
(you can easily keep track of that by carefully chosen typos or choice of
spelling etc. when you fill out application forms -- an idea suggested long
ago by a professor I had in college)

Clever idea, actually. However, I would think that most applications would
be denied or rendered void if it was proven you were willfully entering
misleading or false information.

And that's for the deliberate/willful leaks,

Just 'cause you aren't paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
Are you keeping some secret that these companies think the world should know
about?

don't get me started with how reckless administrations and corporations
are with your private data...

Uh, ok...

In other words, no, HIPPA does not give me the same warm and fuzzy feeling
as it does to you... but hey, may be is it just me.

I never said it was perfect or foolproof but it sounds like you've either
worked for or encountered some pretty scummy individuals or fly by night
operations.

Unfortunately, there are many corporations that do not follow HR laws and
regulations (and there are way more than most people are even remotely aware
of...) My wife would be kicked to the curb instantly if she were to be
caught shopping personal info...especially medical information...which she
can't, because she isn't allowed to see it because of HIPPA (funny how that
works, eh?)

Next time, you might try contacting the office of the Attorney General for
the state in which you claim these companies are shopping your info. You
might also want to get in touch with a local or state professional society
relating to Human Resources and file a complaint and/or the Dept of HHS.

I'm not saying medical data mining/sharing/shopping doesn't happen, but
there are laws against it and therefore, there is recourse. Unless you'd
rather sit home and just be shat upon.

Your choice...

Jay B