Ohio Bill Prohibits Access to Health Information - October 20, 2003 Vol. 4 No. 21

October 20, 2003 Vol. 4 No. 21:

Published: 10/20/2003

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Ohio Bill Prohibits Access to Health Information

The Ohio Senate Finance Committee voted in favor of a bill that allows the Ohio Department of Health to hide information from the public during health department investigations. The provisions were part of Ohio State Senate’s bioterrorism legislation (S 6) aimed at improving response to public health emergencies in the event of a biological terrorism attack.

The Republican backed bill changed an Ohio law that previously classified pending health department investigations into businesses as public records, granting access to anyone. Under the law information identifying individuals was protected from disclosure. The new provisions change the word “person” in the Ohio Revised Code so it is interpreted as not only an individual, but also a business or corporation.

This allows businesses facing investigations for public health violations to remain secret from the public until the investigation is over. For example, if a restaurant were in violation of health codes and under inquiry, the public would not be notified and the health of the restaurant patrons could be at risk.

A coalition of environmental, public interest and media groups fought to keep the previous laws in place, asserting no evidence existed to indicate past problems with the law. Supporters of the bill contend that they do not want to alarm the public with unfounded information, and therefore need secrecy during the investigation. Additionally, they feel that businesses will be more cooperative with investigators if they are shielded from public scrutiny. Jodi Govern, general counsel of the health department, argues that businesses could incur damages by the generation of negative publicity.

The changes in law appear to use bioterrorism as a means to usher in pro-business language offering them protections at the expense of public health.