The following editorial appeared Sunday in the News Tribune in Tacoma:

Some people living miles away from relatives and friends hospitalized in Washington will have Stuart Hunt to thank. Hunt’s tireless efforts to change hospitals’ policy on the release of patient information will spare others the bureaucratic, emotionally draining nightmare he was forced to endure.

Hunt led a campaign that eventually persuaded the Washington State Hospital Association to urge all state hospitals to use a common-sense standard on releasing patient information.

Under the new policy, desperate families and close friends will be told about the condition and location of loved ones who aren’t able to give permission for the release of information.

Last year, Hunt, a Marysville resident, couldn’t get a Longview hospital to give him information over the telephone about his critically ill mother.

The hospital cited new federal privacy rules. The problem was that his mother was too ill to tell hospital officials whether or not she wanted the information released.

Hunt’s experience wasn’t unique. Some hospitals have been preventing hundreds of other families from finding out about their loved ones.

Keeping families in the dark wasn’t the purpose of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA is aimed at protecting a patient’s privacy.

But the law allows hospitals to disclose information if it is in the patient’s best interest. The problem is that there’s no consistent interpretation of this provision among Washington hospitals.

Hefty fines for wrongful disclosure compound the problem.

These penalties and the absence of a penalty for withholding information have combined to create a perverse incentive for hospitals to play it safe by not disclosing any information at all unless patients specifically authorize it.

The hospitalization of a loved one is a stressful enough time for families and friends. The hospital association’s new policy will at least ensure that Washington hospitals don’t add to their stress.