Apart from the outrageousness of the Army not contacting Manning’s team, I’m inclined to treat this as a privacy breach. It may actually be a HIPAA breach, although I’m not confident about that without further information. I realize there are some who may say that as a public figure or semi-public figure, Manning has less of an expectation of privacy. But as I argued years ago in the case of a celebrity with mental health issues, medical confidentiality should not be so lightly waived by those with responsibility for maintaining it.
July 6 – Today, an unnamed official at the Army revealed unverified information relating to Chelsea Manning’s confidential medical status to the media and Nancy Hollander, lead attorney on her defense team, released the following statement:
“We’re shocked and outraged that an official at Leavenworth contacted the press with private confidential medical information about Chelsea Manning yet no one at the Army has given a shred of information to her legal team.
“I had a privileged call scheduled with Chelsea at 2pm Leavenworth time yesterday, after the Army has now said she was hospitalized, but the Army gave the excuse—which I now believe to be an outright lie—that the call could not be connected although my team was waiting by the phone.
“Despite the fact that they have reached out to the media, and that any other prison will connect an emergency call, the Army has told her lawyers that the earliest time that they will accommodate a call between her lawyers and Chelsea is Friday morning. We call on the Army to immediately connect Chelsea Manning to her lawyers and friends who care deeply about her well-being and are profoundly distressed by the complete lack of official communication about Chelsea’s current situation.”
SOURCE: Fight for the Future