https://goo.gl/gfcQry
The authors of a recent Health Affairs Blog post argue that 42 CFR Part 2, the law designed to protect confidentiality of patients with substance use disorders, is outdated and unnecessary. We could not disagree more. 42 CFR Part 2 provides bedrock protections for people with substance use disorders that are as critical now as they were in the 1970s when the law was first enacted. The purpose of the confidentiality law is to ensure that a person with a substance use disorder is not made more vulnerable to discriminatory practices and legal consequences as a result of seeking treatment. Unfortunately, patients with substance use disorders still face enormous consequences associated with disclosure, including loss of employment, loss of housing, loss of child custody, loss of benefits, discrimination by medical professionals, and even arrest, prosecution, and incarceration. As our country faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose, we must ensure that fear of discrimination does not deter people from seeking treatment.
(W)e provide a few examples below:
- a father in recovery who was being denied visitation with his children because he was in methadone treatment, despite the fact that he was not using any illegal substances;
- a mother who was being threatened with eviction from a shelter because she was being treated with prescribed methadone for her opioid addiction; and,
- a young man whose employer refused to allow him to return to work after he successfully completed treatment for alcoholism, alleging that he was a safety threat even though his physician had cleared him to return to work with no restrictions.