Politics
08:45, 03-May-2018
Trump's longtime doctor faces ethical and legal questions
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US President Donald Trump's former physician claimed that the President's representatives essentially forced him to surrender Trump's medical records to them. Experts question whether the doctor or others violated the law or principles of ethics, legal and medical ethics.
So too do the physician's claims that Trump dictated the doctor's glowing 2015 letter about the then-candidate's health, a letter that Trump's presidential campaign released to the public, the experts say.
Dr. Harold Bornstein, who served as Trump's physician for more than three decades, told NBC News and CNN that three men claiming to represent Trump – including Trump's former longtime personal bodyguard and confidant, a Trump Organization chief legal officer and a third "large man" – entered his New York office in February 2017 and demanded the records.
He told CNN that he was "robbed" and described it as a raid.
Experts point out that whether the records' release violated laws or medical ethics depends on what exactly happened – including whether the doctor surrendered the originals and didn't retain a copy, and whether Trump had authorized the release to the three who took them.
A signed authorization from Trump is needed – and if the three didn't have one, disclosing the documents to them would have violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, experts said.
"What Dr. Bornstein described may be a HIPAA violation by the doctor himself," said Erin C. Fuse Brown, a Georgia State University associate professor of law. "It is his obligation as health care provider to ensure patient records are locked, encrypted and secured, so someone couldn't just walk in off the street and demand them.
"It's unclear whether the individuals who came to obtain the President's medical records were agents of the President or his authorized legal representatives. The physician should not have given over a patient's records without a signed authorization."
The White House didn't respond to a request for comment about Bornstein's claim about the letter.
(Top file photo: Dr. Harold Bornstein from Twitter)