[Wikimedia-l] Copyright on Xrays

[Nathan]

On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 1:27 PM, Cynthia Ashley-Nelson
<cindamuse at gmail.com>wrote:

> In the US, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
> (HIPAA) governs release of medical information, which includes any medium,
> including spoken, written, or electronically stored. This includes videos,
> photographs, and x-rays. The only person legally entitled to release this
> information is the patient or individual holding medical power of attorney.
> You can find more information here: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/
>

In the interests of clarity, the above applies only to information which is
individually identifying. If it has been de-identified, which is presumably
not that difficult for x-ray images, then distribution is permitted for
other purposes without the patients' authorization.

~Nathan