What About HIPAA? 

I know I said this was going to be my only comment, but watching the opening segment of the Today show brought one more to mind. The press is hyperventilating over not knowing every minuscule change in the condition of Whittington, as soon as humanly possible. So here is my question.

Could the White House or the Vice President's office even legally disclose changes in his condition to the press without written authorization from Whittington? Has the press completely forgotten about a little something called HIPAA? Some lawyers are warning doctors not to tell other doctors too much about a common patient for fear of violating the privacy portions of the law. So what makes you think they're going to tell the press anything without permission, every time? I only say this because when I worked for a company that sold equipment to hospitals, I had to sign several things promising that I'd never reveal any patient information which I might find out while on site performing technical support.

The penalties for violating privacy provisions in HIPAA are pretty severe too. Not that the press cares about that of course. After all, the freedom of the press trumps all privacy concerns, and common decency. If the White House didn't hold a press conference, then the press would certainly demand "accidental leaks" of information from undisclosed sources.

Honestly, is there no other news worth talking about lately?

Update: Doh! Damn typos.