As a previous long time caregiver for my parents, there are compelling reasons to be alarmed by California AB 2624, the Anti Nick Shirley Law that appears to apply HIPAA rights to all "Healthcare Facilities". After I filmed an ER Nurse's refusal to recheck my Mother's blood oxygen level in 2018, a misapplication of HIPAA was used by the senior ER Nurse to call a false code gray on me, a security guard forcibly erased my video footage, and then my elderly Mother was forcefully discharged, a violation of her EMTALA rights since she was not stable, which is why they refused to recheck her blood oxygen level, and my Mother died as a direct result.
AB 2624 appears to claim HIPAA laws must apply to persons who work at a healthcare facility, irrespective of their immigration status. What constitutes a healthcare facility according to California AB 2624, requires closer scrutiny than the bill implies.
The core issue AB 2624 appears to be addressing is a camera person cannot violate a healthcare workers HIPAA rights by BOTH filming an unwilling subject, AND then streaming that subject's face and or their address on the internet, without the healthcare worker's permission; because those two combined actions could endanger the subject's safety, ruin their reputation, or both, without having been charged or convicted of a crime, resulting in the filmmaker being fined up to $10,000 for filming and then posting their research online.
If the goal is to prevent Citizen Journalists from filming on healthcare grounds, AB 2624 does
not appear to clearly mention if the act of FILMING can generate a fine,
or, if the Filmmaker must BOTH film AND then post the person's face or address, or both, online, without the subject's permission; to incur a
fine. If a filmmaker is on healthcare grounds, can the police be called to stop the filmmaker? AB 2624 does not explain this scenario.
AB 2624 also does not discuss if the subject's face and address are blurred out, is posting the video online still a fineable event? AB 2624 also does not address if a fine remains enforceable if a subject is charged with a crime, or, if a conviction is needed.
There still remains one huge elephant and donkey in the room, AB 2624 incentivizes Governmental investigative inactivity, or just plain ambivalence, which effectively binds the hands of Citizen Journalists while subjecting the Citizen Journalist to $10,000 fines for doing what Government should be doing, investigating embezzling of taxpayer funds and preventing fraudulent use of taxpayer generated revenue.
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