Maddow: It's amazing how easy it becomes to take private medical records once you decide someone is 'bad'
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow sounded the alarm about Vanderbilt University, which willingly turned over the private medical records of families whose children were getting gender-affirming care at the University's medical center. But on Monday, Maddow points out that it isn't about LGBTQ issues anymore.
"These records were seized without the consent of these patients," Maddow explained. "Without any way to opt-out. [The Tennessee attorney general] just took them. His office still has them. He's had them for months. Now, in Tennessee, like in every state where Republicans are in power, Republicans in that state have been going after trans people and the medical records...some of you watching me now are thinking, oh, that's what this is. This is one of those things about transgender-affirming care. That's too bad for trans people in Tennessee. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But we know that Republicans are really coming after those people, so that's bad for them, but it's not really a surprise."
But it isn't just about transgender people anymore.
"It turns out that once you've convinced yourself that you have the right to go take the private medical records of people you've decided are bad people, once you've decided you have the right the take the private medical records of people because you think they don't actually have the right to make their own decisions for their own lives and their own health care, so they don't have any legitimate expectation of privacy — they don't have any legitimate expectation of protection from you," she slammed.
A week ago, she covered the Vanderbilt story, but now Tennessee's AG wants the private medical records of women who live in their states, if they travel to another state for an abortion.
"If you live in Tennessee and you need to get an abortion, well, Republicans have instituted an abortion ban in Tennessee," Maddow continued. "You can't get one in Tennessee anymore. You will need to travel out of state. But the attorney general now says he plans to effectively follow you out of state to get your medical records to see if you got an abortion somewhere else."
It isn't only Tennessee, 19 other states signed a letter demanding that the private medical records of women who get abortions out of state be sent to their state of residence. The states that want the medical records are: Mississippi, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
See Maddow's opener below or at the link here.
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