HIPAA has gotten out of control

HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has gotten out of control, or at least the way many people and most institutions carry it out has.

I am disgusted that privacy practices prevent people (ooh nice alliteration, Lor) from getting the proper care and from families and friends finding out important information about loved ones -- more importantly from giving information to health care providers.

I can't go into too many details but we are trying to help a friend who's in the hospital and the people there are SO rude to not only us but the family members trying to get (and give) information. You'd think they would be happy that the person in the hospital has people who care, are concerned, want to help. I understand there is a line in protecting someone's privacy, but when someone is at a point where they can't reasonably care for themselves or communicate with doctors about their medical history, medications, where they even were the day before or what happened to bring them to the hospital, I think that privacy should drop down a bit on the scale.