Noni MacDonald, MD MSc and Amir Attaran, LLB DPhi have an editorial in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal that addresses the need for apologies when a medical error occurs. The article describes the history of such laws in the U.S. in the 1990’s: […] Full disclosure to the patient is the…
Author: Dissent
FL: Video surveillance in a hospital room here was not under a reasonable expectation of privacy
John Wesley Hall, Jr. tells us of a recent court decision that I actually agree with: Defendant was charged with child abuse murder in Florida. After the death of her child in Florida, she moved to West Virginia. Defendant was suspected there of child abuse by Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and video surveillance was…
NY: Law to help protect against identity theft
via CNYLink: Senator John A. DeFrancisco (R-I-C, Syracuse) said that a bill (S8376A) he cosponsored to help prevent identity theft in New York has become law. The law establishes the crime of unlawful possession of a “skimmer” device and protects personal information in several other ways. […] Several other measures recently went into effect (January…
How Technology May Soon "Read" Your Mind
How often have you wondered what your spouse is really thinking? Or your boss? Or the guy sitting across from you on the bus? We all take as a given that we’ll never really know for sure. The content of our thoughts is our own – private, secret, and unknowable by anyone else. Until now,…
Stunning breach of confidentiality in Travolta tragedy
As Americans, we are indoctrinated with the notion of patient confidentiality. But what happened in the recent Jett Travolta tragedy should remind us that the protections we may have here may not apply if health care is provided out of the country. By now, most of the world knows that actor John Travolta’s son died…
Stolen CreditTek laptop contained data on 68,857 DJO patients
When a Creditek, LLC employee went on vacation to the Bahamas, he took his work laptop with him. The laptop, which contained personal and medical information on 68,857 patients of orthopedic products supplier DJO, LLC, was stolen from the home in which the employee was staying. According to a notification sent to New Hampshire’s Attorney…