American Nurses Association Supports Patient Privacy Rights

Washington, DC -- The American Nurses Association (ANA), along with the Iowa Nurses Association (INA), has filed an amicus, or "friend of the court," brief in the case of Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa versus the Iowa District Court for Buena Vista County. The case is currently before the Supreme Court of Iowa and centers on whether Planned Parenthood should be forced to turn over its medical records, including the names and addresses of every woman who had a positive pregnancy test between Aug. 15, 2001, and May 30, 2002. The Buena Vista County Attorney is seeking the records as part of the investigation into the death of an infant whose remains were found earlier this year. A lower court has ordered that the records be turned over.

"There's no question that the County Attorney has the right, and the duty, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of this infant," said Barbara Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP, president of ANA. "But the overly-broad scope and questionable relevance of the subpoenaed medical records cannot outweigh a patient's expectation that the most intimate details of her health will be kept confidential," she added. The County Attorney has provided no evidence to show that the mother of the infant may have received pregnancy testing at Planned Parenthood. The ANA amicus brief argued that the case represents a potential government intrusion on privacy rights that goes far beyond recognized legal rights and it argued that the subpoena for the medical records be thrown out.

ANA's support of patient confidentiality is strong and long-standing. The association's Code of Ethics says in part, "The rights, wellbeing and safety of the individual patient should be the primary factors in arriving at any judgment concerning the disposition of confidential information received from or about the patient, whether oral, written or electronic." In 1999, ANA adopted a specific policy that states, "Individuals should retain the right to decide to whom, and under what circumstances, their individually-identifiable health information will be disclosed." The sweeping nature of the Iowa investigation, with the resulting intrusion on the privacy of hundreds of women who sought confidential pregnancy testing over a nine-and-a-half month period is neither "effective nor proportional," according to the amicus brief.

"The privacy rights of women who seek pregnancy testing at Planned Parenthood in Iowa, and indeed, of women elsewhere in the United States, are at risk of being seriously violated," Blakeney said. "We urge the Iowa Supreme Court to overturn the lower court's ruling and throw out this subpoena."

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million registered nurses (RNs) through its constituent member state nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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