Walter Watts
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A Curiously Incurious Populace
« on: 2007-02-13 02:15:41 » |
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[Walter]
Having been a registered pharmacist for the past 30 years, I've become somewhat numb to the explosion of Orwellian articles that a big-brotherish U.S. government has managed to codify into law in its insatiable rush to strip its citizenry of every last minutiae of privacy.
Here is but one case that slipped by a curiously incurious populace almost unnoticed:
October 6, 2004
House Passes Prescription Drug Monitoring Bill
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill (HR 3015) that would create federal funding for states to establish electronic systems for tracking prescription drugs. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) would provide grants through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to states to establish and operate prescription drug monitoring programs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently declared that the presence of a PDMP helps states reduce illegal usage of prescription drugs. According to Joy Pritts of Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, in order to receive funding, states would have to require pharmacists to electronically report the names of patients who fill prescriptions for certain controlled substances. States would be required to share their identifiable information with other state monitoring systems, and with state and federal law enforcement officials. For the most part, these state systems will not be subject to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, says Pritts.
[The Full Text of HR 3015:]
(Be sure and include the ENTIRE URL below, then pick item #4 after clicking on it, as it is the latest version.)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.3015:
Read the full text. The part about "require pharmacists to electronically report the names of patients who fill prescriptions for certain controlled substances" is misleading.
In the states that have established such systems, and they are numerous and increasing in number rapidly in order to participate in the money grab, the wording "certain controlled substances" has in all cases become "ALL controlled substances".
In other words, each independent state criminal narcotic bureaucracy can, with the establishment of these "electronic systems for tracking prescription drugs", become the final arbiter of whether a cancer patient is receiving "too much" morphine for their pain. Or whether your child had ADD, or you were depressed, or anxious, or had a testosterone deficiency.
State agencies would then monitor the database for patterns that might indicate illegal activity. Once that assessment is made, they would notify law enforcement agencies. Those agencies would then have access to the database without a warrant, or any other reason to suspect a person of criminal activity.
Law abiding citizens, like cancer victims, may not get the pain relief they need.
Do we need another government database?
This bill will create another giant government database holding sensitive personal information that could easily be leaked, sold or used for purposes not described, even if prohibited under the bill.
Folks. These systems are already in place in dozens of states. Believe me. I've worked with them personally.
Scary?
Me thunks so.
Signed,
A curiously curious Walter
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