Pubdate: Thu, 20 Dec 2012
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2012 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Barbara Boyer

IDENTITIES OF MARIJUANA PATIENTS LEAK

A Note From the State to Participants Inadvertently Showed E-Mail
Addresses and Even Some Full Names.

Lisa Segal prays that those who inadvertently obtained the names of
New Jerseyans approved by the state to buy medical marijuana will
maintain the privacy she says those seriously ill patients deserve.

The state Department of Health apologized Wednesday for an e-mail sent
to more than 400 marijuana program participants in which the
recipients' e-mail addresses were plainly visible. Some addresses
incorporated the patients' full names.

"I was shocked," said Segal, of Wenonah, a program participant who
noted that her previous interactions with the agency had been
positive. "I'm a nurse and I know it's a gross invasion of privacy."

Segal, 61, said she believed the information was protected under the
federal privacy laws known as the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed in 1996. If the marijuana clients's
identities become widely known, she fears they could be discriminated
against, especially by employers.

Segal has been approved to receive prescription marijuana to manage
pain and discomfort from multiple sclerosis. Like hundreds of others,
she is waiting to obtain the drug from the state's only dispensary
currently open for business, Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair.

The Tuesday e-mail advised patients that Greenleaf, which opened Dec.
6, would contact them directly for appointments. All of the
recipients' addresses were visible.

Hours later, the apology arrived.

"The Medicinal Marijuana Program inadvertently sent an insensitive
message that mistakenly disclosed patient e-mail addresses to other
participants in the program," read the statement.

"The department sincerely apologizes for the error and has taken
immediate steps to ensure this does not happen again."

The gaffe is the latest controversy associated with the program. Only
patients with chronic illness, such as terminal cancer, glaucoma,
multiple sclerosis, and AIDS can be approved by certified doctors to
receive the drug. Patients have complained that the law is too
restrictive, hinders access, and sets the potency of the drug
unnecessarily low.

Daniel Emmer, a Health Department spokesman, said in an e-mail that
411 patients had been approved to participate in the program. As of
Wednesday, Greenleaf had dispensed marijuana to 47 patients, he said.

In the first e-mail, the agency detailed the process to obtain
marijuana and urged people to remain patient as they awaited a call
from Greenleaf to receive the drug.

The marijuana program's customer service unit "is not an avenue [to
the drug], nor will it tolerate ... abusive patients," the e-mail
warned, an apparent reference to the tone of calls it has received
from frustrated program participants.

Segal said the e-mail was "rude" and suggested state officials brush
up on their customer service skills. A tutorial on health privacy laws
wouldn't hurt either, she said.

In a message to his fellow e-mail recipients, Segal said that one
medical marijuana patient advised that he had contacted a lawyer.
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