Previous Politech message:
"National Zoo cites animal 'privacy rights,' refuses to release info"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03490.html
Sheesh. Can't this be handled by simple, straightforward contracts with
your vet? Fine print: We promise not to tell anyone that Fluffy died of
malnutrition...
-Declan
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Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 22:25:26 -0400
From: "J.D. Abolins" <jda-ir_at_njcc.com>
Subject: Dog Fancy magazine: privacy of pet medical records
To: Declan McCullagh <declan_at_well.com>
Cc: law_at_dogfancy.com
As I was standing at the checkout line at my local PetSmart store, I
glanced at the magazine rack. The cover of the May 2002 issue of Dog Fancy
magazine had this teaser: "Are your dog's medical records private?" Once I
got off the floor with fits of laughter, I threw in a copy of the magazine
in the shopping basket. I had to read the article, especially after the
animal privacy rights thread on Politech.
Although the magazine has a Web site at http://www.dogfancy.com, there is
no copy of the article (page 15 in the print version) online. Here is an
overview of the article "Who's looking at your dog's medical records" by
George M. Dennis, J.D..
It turned out to be actually an informative article about the laws
concerning disclosure of veterinary records rather than a scare story about
poor Fido becoming a victim of identity theft or mass marketers. The
article starts off with sound admonition for people not to assume that
their dog's veterinary records have the same level of confidentiality as
doctors' records for human patients.
Dennis discusses the 1999 revision of the American Veterinary Medical
Association's Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics to declare vet
records as private and confidential. While there is the AVMA ethics
statement, few states have laws establishing veterinarian-client privilege.
Some states' veterinary boards require confidentiality of records. If a
state does not have the laws or veterinary board requirements, the client
has no legal recourse for disclosure.
But even in states that recognize some vet confidentiality, the privilege
is not absolute. There are conditions under which the confidentiality may
be lost. E.g.; if the client sue the vet, files a fee dispute claim, or
claim that somebody injured the animal (thus, requiring pre-incident health
info concerning the animal). A court order or a subpoena can require
disclosure. Some states may require disclosure under certain conditions
such as contagious livestock diseases.
The law doesn't address who controls the privilege if the dog is switched
among owners. Dennis recommends getting consent for access to vet records
in writing from the previous owner when acquiring a dog.
As I look at the issue, a major difference between veterinary-client
privilege and physician-patient privilege is that the vet's client is the
human but the patient is the animal. Privacy with vet records entails both
information about the animal and some info about human client. The human
would have some privacy concerns about the info concerning the human but
the data usually is limited to name, address, and payment history. There
may be a consumer privacy issue here. But a claim of privacy specifically
for the animal is pushing into hairy territory. <no pun intended> Could
that be a beginning of class action suits for neutering/spaying as an
intimate form of privacy intrusion? <g>
J.D. Abolins
PS. In one of my emails that was posted on Politech, I mentioned a
satirical page where a dog looks at privacy. This page is now up on the Web
at http://www.weirdbytes.com/mdog/sec-priv.html
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Received on May 22 2002
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