SCRANTON, Pa. (CN) - Kowtowing to natural gas-drilling companies, Pennsylvania enacted an unconstitutional "Medical Gag Rule" that prevents doctors from speaking to patients or the public about the health dangers of fracking, under the guise that such speech would violate "trade secrets," a doctor claims in Federal Court.
Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez sued the Pennsylvania attorney general, its secretary of environmental protection and the chairman of its Public Utility Commission.
Rodriguez claims Act 13 of 2012, signed into law on Feb. 14, forces medical professionals into "a vague confidentiality agreement," and that obeying the law would force him "to violate ethical rules imposed upon him by the medical profession that could cost (him) his license to practice medicine within the Commonwealth."
Rodriguez says: "The Medical Gag Rule imposes a content-based restriction on the speech of health care practitioners receiving information from gas drilling companies on chemicals that a patient may have been exposed by requiring the health care practitioner to enter into, upon request by gas drilling company or vendor, a vague confidentiality agreement to maintain the specific identity and amount of any chemicals claimed to be a trade secret by a gas drilling company and/or its vendor as a condition precedent to receiving such information deemed necessary to provide competent medical treatment to plaintiff's patient.
"The First Amendment does not permit such gross and content-based intrusion on speech and, accordingly, the court should declare the Medical Gag Rule unconstitutional and enjoin enforcement of the requirement that health care practitioners enter into confidentiality agreements as a condition precedent to receiving information needed to treat patients in emergency situations."
Rodriguez is a nephrologist, specializing in renal diseases, hypertension and advanced diabetes, in Dallas, Pa. He says his kidney patients need a pure source of water to remove toxins from their blood, and he receives daily alerts from the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and local water companies on the status of the water system.
Rodriguez says he "has recently treated patients directly exposed to high-volume hydraulic fracturing fluid as the result of well blowouts, including a patient exposed to hydraulic fracturing fluid who was admitted to the hospital with a complicated diagnosis with low platelets, anemia, rash and acute renal failure that required extensive hemodialysis and exposure to chemotherapeutic agents."
Rodriguez cites Section 3222.1 (b) (11) of the Medical Gag Rule, which states: "'If a health professional determines that a medical emergency exists and specific identity and amount of any chemicals claimed to be a trade secret or confidential proprietary information are necessary for emergency treatment, the vendor, service provider or operator shall immediately disclose the information to the health professional upon a verbal acknowledgment by the health professional that the information may not be used for purposes other than the health needs asserted and that the health professional shall maintain the information as confidential. The vendor, service provider or operator may request, and the health professional shall provide upon request, a written statement of need and a confidentiality agreement from the health professional as soon as circumstances permit, in conformance with regulations promulgated under this chapter.'
"To date, no regulations have been promulgated under the Medical Gag Rule."
