…. Some observers have decried risks to privacy associated with these plans. They have called for technological safeguards against unauthorized access and patient consent for any release of data from such files.
But we ought to be worrying much more about inevitable pressures for authorized access. Creating an authoritative, fully centralized trove of all medical data on every American would focus and intensify demand for routine and acknowledged access by a range of government and private-sector interests. The ultimate result could be to render anyone’s medical history about as private as his or her credit or marital history – that is, not very private at all.
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