With stuff like illegal drugs, so long as records are retained by the hospital, what prevents the feds from coming in later with a warrant to go through them?
HIPAA trumps the warrant. HIPAA is serious when it says patient data can only be shared for treatment, payment, and hospital operations purposes. Law enforcement is not an allowable reason to disclose patient information without their permission.
In the US a mere warrant is not enough to pierce doctor patient privilege, afaik. At least i would hope it would take a subpoena or a court order or something of the ilk.
Now, though, if a third party accidentally leaks your patient info, or lead pipes are involved
