Trump's doctor invoked hipaa to avoid talking about his lung scans. Trump could've waived it.

President Trump's doctor won't talk about his lung scans, and reporters think that can't be good. On his fourth day in the hospital after his coronavirus diagnosis,

Trump's oxygen levels dropped several times, though he was still expected to leave the hospital that evening, Trump's doctor Sean Conley said Monday. But when Conley was asked what

CT scans of Trump's lungs revealed, he shut down, citing HIPAA privacy regulations. HIPAA would prevent Conley from getting into detail about Trump's lung scans, but it also

probably would've stopped him from disclosing Trump's oxygen levels , and that he determined Trump was not "entirely out of the woods yet." Trump was also completely at

liberty to revoke those protections and let Conley fully inform the public about his condition. CBS News' Kathryn Watson guessed Trump's refusal to do so meant Trump's CT

scans held bad news. SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE SIGN UP FOR THE WEEK'S

FREE NEWSLETTERS From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good

News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Conley also refused to disclose when Trump last tested negative for COVID-19, though he didn't mention

privacy and instead claimed he "didn't want to go backwards" — something contact tracing relies on. Explore More STEM Speed Reads