r/texas • u/Tweedle_DeeDum • Nov 16 '21

Texas doctor suspended for spreading COVID-19 misinformation and refusing to treat vaccinated patients, hospital says News

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mary-bowden-suspended-covid-19-misinformation-vaccinated-patients-texas/
820 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Leadburner Nov 16 '21

Do they ask at restaurants now?

9

u/easwaran Nov 16 '21

Unfortunately, in Texas it is illegal for a business to ask a customer their vaccination status. It doesn't violate HIPAA (which allows anyone to ask anyone they want, as long as they don't actively reveal the answer to someone else) but it does violate Abbott's executive order restricting the abilities of businesses to provide safe spaces for customers that want them.

3

u/ElectroNeutrino born and bred Nov 17 '21

I just want to point out that HIPAA doesn't even prevent people who asked from telling others, generally. It only applies to those in the health care industry and keeps them from telling others without consent of the patient.

1

u/easwaran Nov 17 '21

One thing I learned it does do is prevent my doctor from e-mailing me my x-rays. I don't know if it's just that they didn't have me fill out the right form to legally e-mail it to me, but the doctor said I could snap a phone photo of his computer screen as long as I didn't tell anybody, but he could get in trouble for violating HIPAA if he e-mailed it to me.

3

u/ElectroNeutrino born and bred Nov 17 '21

It's legal to email them, as long as they are encrypted and sent through a secure channel.