Your support is urgently needed to protect patients’ rights to confidentiality. A legal defense fund has been set up for Horn vs. the New York Times, a case in which Doctor Sheila Horn’s employment was terminated after she refused to hand over employee medical records to the management of the Times, without the patients’ knowledge or consent. Doctor Horn also refused to misinform patients as to whether their injuries were work–related, making them eligible for workers’ compensation, despite being directed to do so.

The case has been decided twice in Doctor Horn’s favor in lower courts, and the Times is appealing for their last appeal. The AMA, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and the American Psychiatric Association, as well as other important groups, have submitted amicus briefs in support.

You can help too. Donations to the legal defense fund can be made to Goodman and Zuchlewski, LLP, attorneys for Doctor Sheila Horn, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10022. For further information call (212) 869–1940 and speak with Geoffrey Mort or Pearl Zuchlewski. To read a summary of the case see the September issue of Medical Economics.

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