[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2181]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HIPAA PRIVACY RULES SHOULD BE TWEAKED

  (Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, our Nation's HIPAA patient 
privacy laws should be improved to allow for compassionate 
communication between doctors, primary caregivers, families, and 
patients. Recently, the editorial board of the Observer-Reporter joined 
the conversation in support, citing a specific instance in Greene 
County, Pennsylvania. They wrote:

       Christopher was arrested in early December and attacked 
     police officers at the scene. Witnessing his erratic 
     behavior, the officers decided to take him to a hospital for 
     a mental health evaluation.
       Christopher was released from the hospital after there was 
     apparently no communication between the hospital's medical 
     staff and the arresting police officers.

  Less than 4 weeks later, Christopher was shot to death by his 
brother, Ryan, in what Ryan and others described as self-defense.
  If only the doctors were allowed to share limited, critically 
important information with the family, with law enforcement, and with 
supportive community specialists, this tragedy could have been avoided.
  The leading predictor of success in treatment for a person with 
serious mental illness is family involvement. We must change Federal 
regulations to help, not block, treatment. Until then, there will be 
more sad stories like Christopher's every day.

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