Doctor Speaks Out Against Feds Silencing Medical Staff on Border

Early in July it was revealed that doctors and nurses were allegedly threatened with arrest if they disclosed any information about the diseases discovered in federal housing facilities for illegal immigrants. Many on the left have claimed that by speaking out about their work at the facilities, medical personnel would be violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which "protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information." But Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet--an experienced physician and nationally recognized speaker--told Breitbart Texas that under the law nurses and doctors are free to speak out. "It is not a violation of HIPAA for a doctor or nurse to speak out about a public health concern and not mention a patient's name," Vliet said. "Medical personnel should be free to be interviewed and speak about the kinds of diseases they are seeing and the frequency of them. This would serve the public good and safety--again, it is not a violation of HIPAA."...more