THE PATIENTS BARBARIANS ARE AT THE GATE. “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, gave all patients the legal right to read and even amend their own medical records. At the time, a group of national health care experts hailed this new transparency as a necessary component of better and safer care. But today, few patients have ever laid eyes on their own records. And those who try often come back from their missions with tales of bureaucratic obstacles, ranging from exorbitant copying costs to diffident administrators.” I’m sure that once the government takes everything over completely, these problems will vanish.