State’s ‘Medical Gag Rule’ Called An Illegal Gift to Gas Drillers

State’s ‘Medical Gag Rule’ Called An Illegal Gift to Gas Drillers by Erin McAuley, July 31, 2012, Court House News Service
Kowtowing to natural gas-drilling companies, Pennsylvania enacted an unconstitutional “Medical Gag Rule” that prevents doctors from speaking to patients or the public about the health dangers of fracking, under the guise that such speech would violate “trade secrets,” a doctor claims in Federal Court. Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez sued the Pennsylvania attorney general, its secretary of environmental protection and the chairman of its Public Utility Commission. Rodriguez claims Act 13 of 2012, signed into law on Feb. 14, forces medical professionals into “a vague confidentiality agreement,” and that obeying the law would force him “to violate ethical rules imposed upon him by the medical profession that could cost (him) his license to practice medicine within the Commonwealth.” … Rodriguez is a nephrologist, specializing in renal diseases, hypertension and advanced diabetes, in Dallas, Pa. He says his kidney patients need a pure source of water to remove toxins from their blood, and he receives daily alerts from the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and local water companies on the status of the water system.