HIPAA Hides Violence–Illness Links

Because of health‑privacy rules, the public often learns about the role of untreated serious mental illness in violent incidents only through relatives’ statements, not official disclosures. This information bottleneck can distort debates about causation and solutions by limiting timely, authoritative confirmation. — If privacy law routinely obscures key facts after high‑salience crimes, policymakers and media need better transparency mechanisms that balance privacy with public‑safety accountability.