DataBreaches.Net

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

Bid to halt purging of old medical records

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Dissent

A NSW psychiatrist makes a case for not destroying old psychiatric records – and no, his argument isn’t solely for research purposes, but clinical. And maybe Hell has frozen over, because you’re about to see me argue for retention, instead of destruction, of old records. Ewa Kretowicz reports:

In the past three years, more than 5000 files from Rozelle/Callan Park, Cumberland, James Fletcher and Kenmore psychiatric hospitals ranging from the 1960s to the 1980s have been incinerated.

Records archived before 1960 will be kept and will become publicly available in 110 years but consultant psychiatrist at Westmead Hospital Greg de Moore warns the new policy is compromising patient care.

He said files from the 1960s covered the transitional period from asylum to community care and were still relevant.

”We see patients today that have been in psychiatric care before – 20 or 30 years ago and those details are critical, past files not only assist with diagnosis but they offer insights into what treatments worked before,” he said.

Read more on Canberra Times.

The psychiatrist raises a good point, as much as I hate to risk data theft or breaches by retaining data. The point of retention should be usefulness of the data. If the data are still useful, they should be retained (securely, of course). Certainly in my own clinical practice, I do go back to records (if they’re available) from years ago. Sometimes, in working with adult patients, we want to see if there were earlier signs of disorders or problems or whether there had been any indication of certain things in the past. In other cases, where previous generations were often not diagnosed at all or diagnosed vaguely or incorrectly, having old records with narrative descriptions has been immensely useful in detecting familial genetic conditions.

And of course, there is all the potential research value in records.

So I’m with Dr. de Moore on this one and I hope NSW re-thinks this issue.

No related posts.

Category: Uncategorized

Post navigation

← MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach
Visa statement on payment processor breach →

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

  • Hacker helped kill FBI sources, witnesses in El Chapo case, according to watchdog report
  • Texas Centers for Infectious Disease Associates Notifies Individuals of Data Breach in 2024
  • Battlefords Union Hospitals notifies patients of employee snooping in their records
  • Alert: Scattered Spider has added North American airline and transportation organizations to their target list
  • Northern Light Health patients affected by security incident at Compumedics; 10 healthcare entities affected
  • Privacy commissioner reviewing reported Ontario Health atHome data breach
  • CMS warns Medicare providers of fraud scheme
  • Ex-student charged with wave of cyber attacks on Sydney uni
  • Detaining Hackers Before the Crime? Tamil Nadu’s Supreme Court Approves Preventive Custody for Cyber Offenders
  • Potential Cyberattack Scrambles Columbia University Computer Systems

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

  • Hacker helped kill FBI sources, witnesses in El Chapo case, according to watchdog report
  • Germany Wants Apple, Google to Remove DeepSeek From Their App Stores
  • Supreme Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification on porn sites
  • Justices nix Medicaid ‘right’ to choose doctor, defunding Planned Parenthood in South Carolina
  • European Commission publishes its plan to enable more effective law enforcement access to data
  • Sacred Secrets: The Biblical Case for Privacy and Data Protection
  • Microsoft’s Departing Privacy Chief Calls for Regulator Outreach

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.