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Appellate Court Upholds Florida Privacy Law

Thursday 31 Jul 2014

With my experience in appellate law, I was interested to see how Florida’s legal system handled this recent case surrounding controversial changes in policy.

 

Following an escalating series of events in which patients paying visits to their doctors for medical care were harassed and interrogated about their ownership of firearms, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has upheld Florida’s Firearm Owner’s Privacy Act.

 

In Wollschlaeger v. Governor of Florida, Dr. Wollschlaeger and other plaintiffs insisted they had a First Amendment right to grill patients about their firearm ownership choices, without any belief that the information was relevant to the patient’s medical case.

 

“The essence of the Act is simple: medical practitioners should not record information or inquire about about patients firearm-ownership status when doing so is not necessary to providing the patient with good medical care,” wrote the Court. “The Act merely circumscribes the unnecessary collection on one of many potential sensitive topics.”

 

If you’re interested in learning more about this recent decision, visit www.dailycaller.com/2014/07/26/

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