I hope my letter is as noteworthy as Auburn Police Department's insensitivity exposing an individual's health care status.

It does not come as a surprise to me that the APD would lack sensitivity in the consideration of the Protected Health Information Act when they released details of a recent incident involving my son.

PHIA is part of the HIPAA and helps protect identifying the individuality of a person in cases where health information has been released by a covered HIPAA agency.

The health information released by the APD made available to the multi-media served no other purpose than to sensationalize the incident.

I have repeatedly experienced first-hand the incompetence and lack of professionalism, cooperation and training from both the Cayuga County Mental Health care system and the APD.

I am confident that my family's experience with these agencies is not an isolated example.

Families who try to seek protective mental health care for their loved ones are proactive in trying to ensure situations do not become escalated, are consistently met with incompetence and bureaucratic roadblocks from both of these agencies.

Knowing the sequence of events, several questions come to my mind as I listened to the news and read stories related to this incident.

If the APD had responded to the official request made of them (two weeks earlier), maybe the incident would not have escalated to be as noteworthy for the multi-media.

Since this was not the first time that the APD has been called to assist in these situations, why don't they have better knowledge and training for dealing with these sensitive situations?

What real purpose did it serve to have publicly released the health status of this person?

I understand the necessity of the APD to report their events, however the privacy of one's health care should be respected, only provided when it is necessary to fulfill their obligation to the public.

It is about time the Auburn Police Department became more aware of the needs of their community and become more sensitive to the people they serve?

Marion C. Cool

Auburn