Dear Wheatscapes,

I am so very sorry to hear about your situation. It is just awful. NO one wants their private personal medical information on the internet. Well, I guess I should not speak for "everyone" but I would guess that most people want to be able to maintain privacy about their medical conditions whether they be physical, mental, or both.

Court records ARE public documents and I have seen many Federal disability cases online. At the very least, I think one's name should be redacted. No one needs to know the identity of the person. Seems to me that the laws involved here are contradictory to each other. Public record of court vs HIPPA. I guess the HIPPA laws go out the window when we sign the original "release" when we first file for disability on the original application and then are left with only the public record law in place.

I happen to be a "private" type person and this type of issue really hits me hard. My privacy means a great deal to me so I can only imagine how you must be feeling about what you discovered. It amazed me to find so many cases just like yours posted on the internet.

I wish I could offer you some words of comfort but nothing would comfort me to see my claim for all the world to see. I feel your discomfort. I really liked that you mentioned that you are not ashamed of your illness but that does not mean that you must share it with the world and certainly not without your express approval to do such a thing.

Maybe the community here could write our senators and congressmen to write some legislation to prevent the disclosure of disability claims as public record or at least ensure that names are redacted.

While I am not surprised about your post since I have seen many such claims on the internet, that does not make it any less horrific.

You have support from us and I hope you can get some help dealing with this issue.

I am also asking that the entire community take action to contact their representatives in D.C. concerning this matter. NO one's medical records should be appearing on the internet, especially with identifying information included.