Another great, but dead actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman. If HIPAA dies, more addicts will live.
And so long too to Philip Seymour Hoffman, dead of a drug overdose at age 46 with at least 50 bags of heroin found in his apartment. It’s rumored his relapse was triggered by a prescribed drug (Oxycontin, Vicodin or other psychotropic drug). If the rumor proves true, and if there were no plans for rehab after any essential short-term treatment, the prescribing doctor should be charged with manslaughter. If Hoffman failed to inform the doctor that he had been sober nearly 24 years, the Congressmen who drafted HIPAA, which prevents medical personnel from actively obtaining medical information from those who know the patient, should be charged (ok, that’s overboard but you get the idea). Recovering addicts should never be given psychotropic prescription drugs unless there is no other course of action, and then only with planned rehab, because this is precisely the sort of tragedy that can easily occur. HIPAA needs to be relaxed so that doctors can ascertain whether their patient is an addict. Hoffman’s family has lost someone who was, no doubt, a wonderful father when sober and the world has lost a great actor (his roles included parts in Scent of a Woman, Capote, Boogie Nights, Doubt, Mission Impossible III and many more).