A national physician group announced July 31 that it is suing the Bush administration's top health official to halt new medical privacy regulations that it says are unconstitutional.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), which represents physicians in all types of practices and specialties, contends that the rules would violate patient confidentiality and place burdensome new requirements on physicians.

In a complaint to be filed in US District Court in Houston, AAPS alleges that the rules violate the Fourth Amendment by requiring physicians to allow government access to personal records without a warrant. They also illegally authorize the government to create a centralized medical records database containing personal information, the physicians group said.

"Forcing patients to surrender information to the federal government constitutes an illegal search and seizure by the federal government," said Kathryn Serkes, public affairs counsel to the AAPS. Doctors can be fined for withholding those records and the federal government can order physicians to refuse treatment to patients who won't consent to government disclosure, she added.

AAPS also contends that the rules place on physicians an overwhelming burden for recordkeeping, particularly for doctors in small offices.

"It would be the regulation that broke the physician's back...because they can't afford to do everything they need to do to be in compliance," Serkes said.

Reuters Health, August 1, 2001