The Bush administration proposed to drop the consent requirement.
One provision of the rules, the consent requirement, was particularly troublesome for pharmacists.
Pharmacists say the consent requirement would be impractical in many situations.
The mandatory consent requirement put patients at risk of not receiving care".
In an interview, Ms. Hatton said that at least two aspects of the consent requirement would be "administratively cumbersome".
The Bush administration proposed to drop the consent requirement while retaining other provisions, often in a revised form.
Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, president of the American Psychiatric Association, criticized the decision to drop the consent requirement.
But Utah has statutes on the books intended to discourage abortions, including a parental consent requirement for minors.
"Worse yet, free applications that rely on advertising could be pushed by the consent requirement to become fee-based".
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he would introduce legislation to keep the consent requirement that the Bush administration wants to rescind.
The Bush administration's decision to scrap the draconian consent requirement from the patient privacy rules should be bemoaned by no one, least of all consumer advocates.
