Some Say Social Security Policy Shift Hinders Research

Some medical researchers have expressed concern that a recent shift in Social Security Administration policy to restrict public disclosure of its death records is beginning to negatively affect a range of research efforts. Last year, the agency concluded that it had violated a 1983 law by releasing state death records and removed four million death records from a public file.

• "Researchers Wring Hands as U.S. Clamps Down on Death Record Access" (Sack, New York Times, 10/8).