ACTION ALERT: Preservation of Historical Medical Records
/'Dear Keep the Promise Coalition and NAMI Connecticut Members and other interested parties:
Please consider contacting your state representatives and senators on the Government Administration and Elections Committee regarding:
H.B. 5124, AN ACT CONCERNING THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL RECORDS AND ACCESS TO RESTRICTED RECORDS IN THE STATE ARCHIVES.
This bill would allow the medical records of persons served by state agencies, including mental health services, to be made public 50 years after their death and is opposed by DMHAS, CLRP, A.U. and NAMI Connecticut among others of our member organizations.
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF THE GAE COMMITTEE MEMBERS.
It is particularly important for people whose legislator is on the committee to contact him or her as a constituent, especially Co-Chair Senator Musto (Bridgeport, Monroe, and Trumbull). Additionally, make sure you copy the committee's staff person in your email communication, Kaitlin Faticoni at kaitlin.faticoni@cga.ct.gov, so your letters can be available to all committee members.
Talking Points:
- We strongly oppose this proposal because it breaks the confidentiality of people who receive mental health services in the public sector.
- As written, it would allow access to psychiatric records of individuals served in state facilities 50 years after their death without their consent.
- Families would have no say in whether or not their families psychiatric history could be made public.
- People treated in the private sector have their records protected forever, thus making this proposal a discriminatory practice toward people served in the public sector.
- We urge you to remove Section 2 © of this bill to protect the privacy of sensitive health care records belonging to individuals served by the state.   OR, alternatively, we urge you to protect people's privacy regarding their healthcare records by redacting individuals' names (and other identifying information) before making data publicly available.