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October 23, 2004
medical records dilemma - a modest proposal
Dawn Eden reports a bizarre story in which a Planned Parenthood lawyer claims the physical remains of an aborted fetus constitute a part of the mother's medical records. Not just the fact of the abortion, or any specific information about the procedure, but the the actual "product of conception" him/herself.
This is incredible. Not content to kill the unborn, Planned Parenthood is waging war on the language as well. But if abortion victims' remains are considered part of the mothers' medical records, wouldn't that mean that PP and other abortion clinics are engaged in systematic destruction and/or discarding of patients' medical records? Is it legal, I wonder, to simply destroy or discard a portion of a patient's medical records?
By the same token, isn't there a good argument that the remains are also a part of the father's medical records as well? After all, the fetus carries DNA which could prove his paternity (or should we say, "his complicity in generating products of conception?"). And then, when the mother and the father later see different doctors, and their respective doctors request all their medical records, is there a Solomonic division of the remains? Call your brokers, folks, and buy formaldehyde futures.
Suddenly a simple death certificate seems like a modest proposal.
Posted by joel at October 23, 2004 03:27 PM
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Comments
Seems logical to me. If I go in for a sex change operation I certainly don't want to see my little friend on e-bay tomorrow without my consent.
Posted by: Worldgineer at October 24, 2004 11:17 AM
World, you're not quite addressing the point. First off, the idea of selling remains or body parts to the highest bidder never entered the picture Chez was painting. Also, there was never another individual who (in all but 1% or so of cases) consensually helped any man to make his "little friend."
Posted by: honest + popular at October 26, 2004 10:49 AM
//the idea of selling remains or body parts to the highest bidder never entered the picture Chez was painting// Perhaps not the exact picture, but certainly a result of the patient not having the right to privacy. Without this right there's nothing to stop someone from selling, say, a celebrity's aborted fetus on e-bay.
I think Joel has a point about the father's right to privacy, but I don't totally buy it. It's certainly not part of his body, and therefore not his medical records. Ok, so a single strand of DNA was part of his body, so I'll leave this arguement open.
Posted by: Worldgineer at October 27, 2004 12:16 PM
The eBay argument doesn't make sense to me. If a celebrity has an appendectomy, is the actual appendix legally considered part of the celelbrity's medical records? I don't believe so. Obviously the appendix should be destroyed (hospitals destroy alot of biological matter) and should not end up on eBay. But we don't have to go through the contortions of defining the appendix itself as part of "medical records" in order to protect the patients' right to privacy.
The point of the original story is that Planned Parenthood wanted to refuse the Sherrif's office access to the aborted fetus based on the patient's right to privacy. However, the argument fell through because the sherrif was conductiong a criminal investigation. They needed the fetus in order to determine paternity. Since the mother was thirteen years old, there was potentially a case of statutory rape involved.
Posted by: Joel at October 27, 2004 05:04 PM
I'm quite sure the it's all about legal definitions, and this whole discussion seems a little silly to me. Call it a legal record or a rose, either way it comes down to the right of privacy.
Posted by: Worldgineer at October 28, 2004 12:21 PM
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