A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Let’s clear up a few things right here and now about a column I wrote last week concerning possible Trail Blazer violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Availability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). It had to do with Darius Miles and the condition of his microfracture-repaired knee.
The column I wrote did NOT come from Miles’ agent, Jeffrey Wechsler. There are any number of people who knew I had been snooping around about the story way before I attempted to speak to Wechsler – because I called them and asked them if they’d had any luck getting the guy to talk. They hadn’t, and I didn’t, either. He has no interest in speaking to the press, it seems.
• The subject of that column, in fact, was all around the NBA. Lots of people were talking about it, and I felt fortunate to be able to write it before someone else did. Anyone with a moderate number of sources in the league would have known about it.
• If you had a daily radio show and you were positive I was full of beans when I wrote that column, wouldn’t you try to get me to come on your show so you could rip me to shreds? Sure you would, unless you’re worried that you don’t really know enough about the situation to pull it off.
• Was there a federal HIPAA violation? I don’t know, and neither do you. Nobody would know unless there is a hearing, same as any charge that would require court action where evidence is presented. That’s why when we write about it, we merely raise the possibility and let the courts decide if, indeed, they ever do – just as we do in other situations when there is a potential for charges to be filed.
• Whether there is a HIPAA violation or not, the NBA could decide to fine the team. Make no mistake, teams are discouraged from discussing player injuries in a public forum, without the player’s permission. Every coach and general manager in the league understands this, and for the last several years, it’s been extremely difficult to get specific information about the medical condition of players.
• Sources within the league have told me that one other remark by Kevin Pritchard set off alarm bells throughout the league. The Blazer general manager was asked if he thought there was a chance that Miles’ injury would be declared “career ending,” and he responded that he was “optimistic” that it would. Many people felt that remark was in bad taste – as if rooting for a player’s career to be over. I do not believe Pritchard meant it to sound that way, but the reaction to it was typified by this April 4 post on the blog Slam Dunk Central, that called it callous, unthinking and mercenary: http://www.slamdunkcentral.com/2008/04/04/pritchard-optimistic-miles-can-no-longer-play/
• Just because I write this stuff, it doesn’t mean I hate the Trail Blazers, their front office, their coach or their fans. Relax, people. The organization is on the right track. But this is the kind of work journalists are supposed to do. Take a look at what
Hey, any time you are on one side and John Canzano is on the other, you can rest assured that you are probably correct. Canzano is like a journalistic anti-compass.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 09:17 AM
Apparently professionalism dies when one deals solely in conjecture to entertain people. I can’t imagine why my comment on the other “article” wasn’t posted, but this new “article” pretty much sums up what I was saying.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 10:33 AM
MAN!!!! I dunno what you do to piss off so many people dwight, but I will be paying attention from now on.
I applaud you for doing what you do, after all, THEY ALL READ IT, despite not appricating it.
in anycase, I don't think Kevin Prichard indeed violated HIPAA, I base this thought of mine, on the league couldn't really be that stupid to not put some sort of waiver in each and every nba contract.
but it is stern doing the shot calling....
and seems how I'm tippy toeing onto sterns nutzz....
why haven't you done a story on the shanty 15 month sentance yet?
keep digging dude....despite the illness that it apparently creates ....the sicko people still read it...
go figure.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 11:01 AM
This article is as baseless as the first one was. If there were anything to your claim that Kevin Pritchard had violated any provisions of the HIPAA laws there would have been some sort of move by either the NBA, the Federal Government or Miles and his agent by now.
Your assumption that the HIPAA laws are the same regarding a public figure who belongs to an organization (the NBA) which regularly deals with similar circumstances and has a well-established set of rules (the Collective Bargaining Agreement) is not an intelligent basis for an article.
If saying someone injured themselves and to what extent the injury may be was a violation of a law, then the announcers during the games should all be fired because they regularly publicize the known medical status and severity of any injury to a player as it happens in a game or after.
The whole article was very poorly thought out.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 11:19 AM
HEY!!! I KNOW YOU!!!!!
;P still!!! it's info on what could be, and maybe did happen.
it's more than anyone else is willing to type and is info from a fairly reliable source...
I dunno why everones panties get all bound up over a malcontent former pro player of the great game of basketball...
this is as silly as someone actually defending zach randolph style of defense!!! ;p
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 11:33 AM
So where is the report where KP said he was "optimistic" Miles would have to retire? I guarantee that was totally taken out of context. He was probably saying he was optimistic the situation would be over soon or something like that. I'm always skeptical when I see one word taken out of a statement and matched up to something.
Dwight, you reported a ridiculous story. Face it. The reason you were the first to report it is because writers don't like to fabricate and piece together misspoken or out of context quotes to get a story.
Thanks for bringing everyones attention to it though... Enjoy your continued defense of an irresponsible report. You've lost another reader...and I'm a Laker fan.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 11:51 AM
In Section 3. Public Release of Medical Information.
(a) Subject to subsection (b) below, each Team may make public medical information relating to the players in its employ, provided that such information relates solely to the reason why any such player has not been or is not rendering services as a player.
You are dead wrong. Players sign a release.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 12:36 PM
DJ,
I haven't always agreed with you but you always respond professionally, unlike Canzano who doesn't know the first thing about acting like a professional.
Don't sweat a little man like Canzano because you are better and have proved to us readers over the years you know what you are writinng about & you have NO HIDDEN AGENDAS.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Ok, Lets be real. In these two articles, Mr. Jaynes is working from something called conjecture, in other words: jumping to conclusions (in an attempt, I can only assume, to get people to read his page, which he was successful at). If Miles' camp had wanted to push the issue, they would have brought it up back in April. What I have a problem with at this point, however, is not the actual story (of which there is very little), but how the reporter has let his professionalism fly out the window. Who cares if fans get irritated? If you don't like the criticism, don't allow people to post on your stories. Oh, but then it wouldn't be as popular, right? Give me a break. Leave the "emotional outbursts" out of your writing and replying to the fans, and maybe you'll get more respect. Stop spinning the news into a negative rant by once good writer.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Mommmmmm!! Canzano's being mean to me!
What is this, junior high? You can dish it out, but apparently you can't take it. You've taken pot shots at Canzano for years, but now that he has taken a shot at you, you whine about it like an 8-year-old girl.
While his rant may have been a bit over the top, he had every right to take you to task for a column that was short on facts and long on speculation, melodrama and erroneous information. You do it, why can't he? You that thinskinned?
What a waste of column space. Stop obsessing on getting in swipes at Canzano for what he thinks (are you that jealous of him?), and write something relevant and substantial. For a change.
Let's all grow up, shall we?
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 01:29 PM
Canzano might as well be the Blazers PR guy now. He hasn't investigated or written anything negative on the current team for years now. Of course he'll bring up his articles from the Jailblazers era and maybe the one about Darius and the strip club but his new found access to the team has turned him into a company man.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 02:11 PM
HIPAA=Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
not
HIPAA=Health Insurance Portability and AVAILABILITY Act
I won't read any further than your initial mistake. If you can't be bothered to check your facts on the title, you're not worth reading.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 04:26 PM
nice try, Dwight. You didn't even get the name of HIPPA correct. Did you even bother to check and see if release of medical information is covered in the CBA?
I know that a medical professional is not allowed to release medical information to anyone unless they have permission from the patient...not even to an employer. KP is NOT a medical professional, he merely repeated what was told to him by a medical professional and that doctor had to have had consent by Miles to release that information to his employer, the Trail Blazers.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 08:03 PM
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Re: More on Miles and the HIPAA, minus the emotional outbursts
Can we save this space for real news items as opposed to journalist on journalist crime? Canzano took some cheap shots but to devote an article to it seems a bit trite. Call him or his radio show or write a letter to the editor but don't lob volleys through the dailies. Serve your readers, not your ego.
"sdbeav24"
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 07:21 AM