Letter to the editor

Robert G NewmanBaron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical, Dependency Institute of Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY, USAIn response to "Privacy protection for patients with substance use problems", there is indeed a compelling reason to worry about loosening of the Federal confidentiality regulation, 42 CFR Part 2, which requires special protection for patient information maintained by addiction treatment facilities. This concern is not so much based on fear of misuse and/or unauthorized further disclosure by the recipient of such information.