In its Sunday opinion section, the Des Moines Register accused Iowa Department of Public Health (DPH) Director Tom Newton of “suggesting what Iowans don’t know won’t hurt them” with regard to H1N1. You see, what the Register doesn’t like is DPH’s unwillingness to play fast and loose with information about Iowans who have died of H1N1.

What DPH has done is protect those identities at a level that would be appreciated by health care providers, all of whom are entrusted with vast amounts of confidential medical information. This has frustrated Register reporters and editors who, frankly, seem willing to report anything they can find out, at least when it comes to H1N1 victims. Think otherwise? Let this illustrate the depth of the Register’s concern: “Releasing ages, sex and health conditions might let snoops figure out the identity of flu victims, but so what?”

Meanwhile, just a few column inches away, the Register praises Senator Amanda Ragan for introducing a bill that would loosen the rules that DPH follows regarding releasing private information. If the Register editorial writers had only bothered to read the news pages, they would see that Ragan’s bill does not necessarily mean more information will be released, only that it could be released. Just like Newton, Senator Ragan’s first and highest concern is with patient privacy.

The Register believes more information is always better (this is where that newspaper selling priority kicks in) and is obviously ready and willing compromise individual privacy in its quest of “news.” On the other hand, both Newton and Ragan clearly have other priorities — the right priorities.

Like it or not, the Department of Public Health’s Job 1 is to safeguard the people of Iowa. DPH — and Iowa’s health care providers — have done an admirable job of educating the public on how to protect itself from H1N1. Nothing that DPH has chosen to withhold about H1N1 fatalities would have increased that level of protection. On the contrary, the important work DPH has to do would be undermined and distracted when the “so what” media feeds speculation by playing amateur epidemiologist.

Patient privacy is a top priority for Iowa’s hospitals and the Department of Public Health. And we can all be thankful that Register editors are not in charge of deciding whose medical information gets released.