U.S. HIPAA Law Protects Patient Privacy Rights

The White House physician Dr. Sean Patrick Conley finished a press briefing on October 5, 2020, regarding the US President's health status and is being 'hammered over his invocation of HIPAA to refuse to answer some questions'. There is a contradiction in what information was revealed and what information was withheld. The only legal basis would not be HIPAA, Tweeted @JonathanTurley, the Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.

'Section 45 CFR §164.508 of the HIPAA law which was passed in 1996, stipulates that all uses and disclosures of protected health information (PHI) require an authorization to be obtained from a patient before information prior to any disclosure. A patient can be selective in PHI disclosures.'