DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

AU: Doctors breaching patient privacy: Orwell redux

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Dissent

Via Dr. Ken Pope’s mail list, I learned of an article in the Medical Journal of Australia by David J. Handelsman, Leo A. Turner, and Ann J. Conway, ” Doctors breaching patient privacy: Orwell redux.”

Here’s an excerpt from the commentary:

Of all the ethical principles underlying medical practice, confidentiality is so fundamental that its breach is an illegal, high-order betrayal of responsibility. Disclosing personal medical information without consent profoundly violates the autonomy, beneficence and privacy that patients have always rightly expected. Although disclosure without consent has only rarely been necessitated by an urgent threat to life or health, two recent legal erosions of doctor–patient confidentiality illustrate how privacy-invading legislation can so easily and silently harm individuals who do not form sufficiently clamorous rights-demanding groups. In one, a state government directs that private medical records be lodged in an Orwellian sounding “Central Register” without regard for the individual’s knowledge, and risking privacy breaches by seeking consent for disclosure to third parties. The other permits disclosures of a patient’s medical information against their wishes even without any urgent threat to the life or health of another person. Both represent unreasonable intrusions on privacy and erosion of personal liberty.

The full article is available online on the journal’s web site.  The authors comment on two pieces of legislation: the New South Wales Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2007 and a “recent update of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines on medical genetic testing [ … ] that widens the legal exemption allowing disclosure of patients’ genetic information to others, even against a patient’s wishes.”

No related posts.

Category: Uncategorized

Post navigation

← The College Board makes notifications after the Epsilon breach
A Rash of Third-Party Data Breaches Takes a Toll on Businesses and Customers (update2) →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • DOJ investigates ex-ransomware negotiator over extortion kickbacks
  • Hackers Using PDFs to Impersonate Microsoft, DocuSign, and More in Callback Phishing Campaigns
  • One in Five Law Firms Hit by Cyberattacks Over Past 12 Months
  • U.S. Sanctions Russian Bulletproof Hosting Provider for Supporting Cybercriminals Behind Ransomware
  • Senator Chides FBI for Weak Advice on Mobile Security
  • Cl0p cybercrime gang’s data exfiltration tool found vulnerable to RCE attacks
  • Kelly Benefits updates its 2024 data breach report: impacts 550,000 customers
  • Qantas customers involved in mammoth data breach
  • CMS Sending Letters to 103,000 Medicare beneficiaries whose info was involved in a Medicare.gov breach.
  • Esse Health provides update about April cyberattack and notifies 263,601 people (1)

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • Oregon Amends Its Comprehensive Privacy Statute
  • Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Liberal Majority Strikes Down 176-Year-Old Abortion Ban
  • 20 States Sue HHS to Stop Medicaid Data Sharing with ICE
  • Kids are making deepfakes of each other, and laws aren’t keeping up
  • The Trump administration is building a national citizenship data system
  • Supreme Court Decision on Age Verification Tramples Free Speech and Undermines Privacy
  • New Jersey Issues Draft Privacy Regulations: The New

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.