[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 48 (Thursday, April 11, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ``THE VETERANS' PRIVACY ACT''

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 11, 2013

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing a bill, 
the Veterans' Privacy Act, a bill that directs the Department of 
Veterans Affairs (VA) to prescribe regulations ensuring that, when 
veterans receive care from VA, their privacy will not be violated by 
unauthorized video surveillance.
  By its very nature, medical care requires that an individual forfeit 
some privacy in order to obtain treatment. However, when a veteran 
walks into a VA medical facility, they should not have to worry about a 
covert camera being in their treatment room.
  Last June, a covert camera disguised as a smoke detector was 
installed in the room of a brain damaged veteran who was being treated 
at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, Florida. Upon 
discovering the hidden camera, the veteran's family was understandably 
outraged.
  When the veteran's family asked about the camera, VA officials first 
stated that the camera did not exist, then changed their story and 
admitted that the ``smoke detector'' was actually a video camera. When 
further asked if the camera was recording, VA told the family that the 
camera was only ``monitoring'' the patient and was not recording. Only 
after inquiries by local media and the House Veterans' Affairs 
Committee did VA admit that the camera was recording. VA then removed 
the camera from the patient's room.
  In the wake of this incident, I sent a letter to VA asking for its 
legal authority to place a camera in a patient's room without consent. 
VA stated that its legal opinion was that the hidden camera did not 
violate the law, but that it was developing a national policy to 
address the issue of video surveillance of patients. In response to a 
recent status request on this national policy from my staff, VA stated 
that it did not expect to have the policy finalized before September 
2013, well over a year after this incident occurred.
  I am deeply disturbed at VA's callous actions and response to the 
privacy interests of this veteran, and can't help but wonder whether 
similar incidents are occurring across the country, especially since VA 
still lacks a national policy in this area. The least we can do is 
ensure basic privacy rights of the men and women who have served our 
country when they seek the treatment they have earned.
  Mr. Speaker, no veteran should have to worry about being secretly 
recorded when he or she goes to VA for medical treatment, and I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting the Veterans' Privacy Act.

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