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The DEA wants access to your medical records without consent or a warrant

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Wreckem

Diamond Member
Sep 23, 2006
9,545
1,124
126
Don't know if that will happen...

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justic...-before-conviction-Supreme-Court-to-hear-case.

It's DNA and not medical records but the Maryland court upheld that a person person whose DNA was collected (initially without a warrant) was used to convict him for an earlier crime, had an expectation of privacy and that collection of DNA violated his 4th amendment protections.

The fact that the SCOTUS is hearing the case may be an indication that they might want to differ with the Maryland court according to a former lawyer that I listen to on the radio.

If they rule against taking DNA samples they'd have to rule against taking finger prints. They are more or less the same thing.
 
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xj0hnx

Diamond Member
Dec 18, 2007
9,262
3
76
I think this has happened on more than one occassion. I remember this old article by the "agitator". http://www.theagitator.com/2012/05/08/arrested-jailed-for-a-legitimate-pain-script/

This person was on crutches with an IV line in her arm, and she was arrested and taken to jail for a legitimate pain prescription.

I found this funny ...

Doctors prescribed a Texas woman a strong narcotic after she shattered her knee in Haiti. And then . . .
“They gave me a pretty high, heavy duty narcotic, Norco

LOL at Norco's being heavy duty, they're a couple steps above Tylenol 4's. I find it amazing that someone would even be looked at for getting a script for hydrocodone/APAP, even 10mg ones when MUCH stronger pain killers are routinely prescribed.

We really as a society need to get passed this hysteria surrounding pain killers, and end this destructive War on Drugs™(users).
 

MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
9,399
8,783
136
Keep in mind that Obama just OK'ed doctors asking about guns in your home.

If/when my doc asks, I will tell him it is none of his business, and really want to know how this has any effect on my cholesterol or my prostate health.

If I run into my doc at the shooting range, and then he asks in his office, I still will not answer because now it is part of my medical records, and only a complete fool think these are private.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Keep in mind that Obama just OK'ed doctors asking about guns in your home.

If/when my doc asks, I will tell him it is none of his business, and really want to know how this has any effect on my cholesterol or my prostate health.

If I run into my doc at the shooting range, and then he asks in his office, I still will not answer because now it is part of my medical records, and only a complete fool think these are private.

If anyone asks me or anyone in my family the answer is "none of your business".
 

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
3
76
Keep in mind that Obama just OK'ed doctors asking about guns in your home.

If/when my doc asks, I will tell him it is none of his business, and really want to know how this has any effect on my cholesterol or my prostate health.

If I run into my doc at the shooting range, and then he asks in his office, I still will not answer because now it is part of my medical records, and only a complete fool think these are private.
That's WAY to much like "papers please" for me.

Politics in everyday life, that is Mr. Adolf Hitler.

He designed politics in everyday life. He taught the world to hate those that didn't agree with his politics.

Same thing, and incredibly scary.

-John
 

Oldgamer

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
3,280
1
0
I found this funny ...



LOL at Norco's being heavy duty, they're a couple steps above Tylenol 4's. I find it amazing that someone would even be looked at for getting a script for hydrocodone/APAP, even 10mg ones when MUCH stronger pain killers are routinely prescribed.

We really as a society need to get passed this hysteria surrounding pain killers, and end this destructive War on Drugs™(users).

Exactly, the media in my opinion is responsible for this hysteria
 

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
On day the baby boomers woke up and found out that they had their own kids... and they didn't want their kids doing drugs like they did; so they started this war on drug shit.

Some day they will be old and pissed off that they can't get their fucking pain-pills; and then this anti-pill shit will fall to the way-side.
 

MovingTarget

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2003
9,002
115
106
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
HIPPA.
HIPPA who?
Sorry, but I can't release that information....



Medical privacy is very important and is enshrined in the HIPPAA laws and various constitutional protections. I don't have any problem with the DEA obtaining medical records, so long as they go through the courts to get them via subpeona/warrant.

On another note, the DEA should butt out here anyway. Many of us were (and still are) affected by the artificial shortage of amphetamine salts that they caused. Yes, doctors may abuse their rights to proscribe medication, but I am not willing to jeopardize a patient's quality of life/ability to function for this phony "war on drugs".
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
35,664
9,966
136
Have I mentioned North Korea recently? Yeah... I keep telling ya so.

Some day you may want to move there to be free.
 

zanejohnson

Diamond Member
Nov 29, 2002
7,054
17
81
Have I mentioned North Korea recently? Yeah... I keep telling ya so.

Some day you may want to move there to be free.

you know it's really starting to look like we are the brainwashed ones, and maybe n korea is the last free state..
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Even if the Supreme Court deals with this, a shit load of individuals will have their rights trampled in Oregon.

Unrelated note: I lived there for 2 years and could totally understand why the DEA would focus on them. Way too many people up there have a drug problem, either prescription, over the counter, or illegal.

Of course the DEA cant actually fix that, but they need to justify their existence somehow.
 

Oldgamer

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
3,280
1
0
Even if the Supreme Court deals with this, a shit load of individuals will have their rights trampled in Oregon.

Unrelated note: I lived there for 2 years and could totally understand why the DEA would focus on them. Way too many people up there have a drug problem, either prescription, over the counter, or illegal.

Of course the DEA cant actually fix that, but they need to justify their existence somehow.

Well I am reading where the DEA has gone after several distributors and that has halted needed pain medications to get to pharmacies, and to the doctors.

Just scouring the internet I was looking at a number of stories where even ambulance paramedics don't have adequate pain medication for patients they pick up in emergency situations. One such article said that a paramedic had a woman in a serious accident with a broken leg, and he only had one small vial of morphine available to him and he had to make the decision as to whether he should give her the pain medication or save it for someone who is in worse shape. He opted not to give it to her, and in the article he said that decision haunts him to this day.

The fact that the DEA is pushing to reclassify the Hydrocodone/acetimnophen mix is pretty serious, and as indicated by the FDA panel will not stop abuse. It will only make it harder for legitimate pain patients to gain access, as doctors will be under even tighter scrutiny and more reluctant to prescribe it. It looks like there is a lot of finger pointing between the DEA and drug manufacturers and distributors but no one wants to accept responsiblity. This isn't just affecting pain patients but parents who have children with ADD or ADHD and need medications like adderall.

This is just hysteria by the media and what no one is admitting is that all of this is breaking the doctor-patient relationship. So now it is the DEA who will tell your doctor how much medication your allowed to have and how often, without even knowing you or your situation or health issues.

Like what they are proposing in the article I linked. No more refills, or stripping physician assistants and nurses from doing refills. All this does is cause an undo burden on the doctor office and takes longer for a pain patient to get their medications.
 
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Oldgamer

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2013
3,280
1
0
From the Huffington Post:

"One telltale sign that we've entered a bona-fide drug war hysteria is when government officials start treating people suspected of abusing whatever drug is causing the latest mass case of the vapors not as human beings--as citizens with rights--but as an enemy. Two stories that made headlines in the last week suggest that we're in a full-blown painkiller panic. First in Utah:

A man says Vernal police disrupted an intimate moment of mourning with his deceased wife of 58 years when they searched his house for her prescription medication without a warrant within minutes of her death.
Barbara Alice Mahaffey died of colon cancer in her bedroom last May. Ben D. Mahaffey, 80, said he was distraught and trying to make sure his wife's body would be taken to the funeral home with dignity, when he says officers insisted he help them look for the drugs.

"I was holding her hand saying goodbye when all the intrusion happened," he told the Deseret News.

Barbara Mahaffey died at 12:35 a.m. with Mahaffey, a Navy medic in the Korean War, and his friend, an EMT, at her side. In addition to police, a mortician and a hospice worker arrived at the home about 12:45 a.m., Mahaffey said. He said he doesn't know how police came to be there.

"I was indignant to think you can't even have a private moment. All these people were there and they're not concerned about her or me. They're concerned about the damn drugs. Isn't that something?" Mahaffey said.

Mahaffey said he was treated as if he were going to sell the painkillers, which included OxyContin, oxycodone and morphine, on the street.

Another even sadder case:

A Pauls Valley family is forced to deal with tragedy after a 33-year-old mother dies from a medical condition while being held at the Garvin County jail.
The victim in this case is Jamie Lynn Russell.

Jamie also used the last name of Fisher.

Her death came just hours after she went to the hospital seeking help for severe abdominal pain.

"Jamie was seeking help; she was in extreme pain," family friend Kemper Kimberlin said.

Hospital staff reported Jamie wouldn't cooperate, in too much pain to even lie down, so employees asked a Pauls Valley police officer to assist.

Unfortunately, when police found two prescription pills that didn't belong to Jamie, police took her to jail for drug possession.

That's where Jamie sat for less than two hours before being found unresponsive.

"There is nothing my staff in the jail could've done differently," Garvin County sheriff Larry Rhodes said.

Well of course there is, Sheriff Rhodes. You could have exercised some discretion, and not thrown a clearly ill pregnant woman in jail over two pills.. Russell died from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. It seems fairly likely that had she not been carted off to jail, her condition could have been detected and treated. The sheriff added, "It's very regrettable for the family. My heart and prayers go out to them."

Regrettable. I guess that's one way to describe what happened to Jamie Russell. Another might be collateral damage.

Link to the HuffPost article on this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/new-victims-in-the-war-on_n_2455917.html