News

Anthony S. Danna, Esq.

New Rules Protecting Medical Privacy May Inadvertently Jeopardize Some Estate Plans.

A Recent Wall Street Article (November 16, 2004, D3), entitled: "Privacy Rules Snarl Estate Planning," discusses a new body of national privacy standards which were enacted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Under these new 'HIPAA' rules, doctors are not allowed to talk freely about a patient's medical condition. In some cases, they can be fined or jailed for discussing or passing along private health information without consent.
The article goes on to explain that the impact of this new law "creates great potential for significant problems for people who have granted someone the power of attorney to take care of their medical needs or finances in the event they are unable to do so themselves. Many people now need to revise their estate plans to get around the new rules. Also, people who have named someone as trustee or successor trustee to a trust may want to add some protections to their plan."