This editorial appeared in the New York Times today: Almost 2,500 patients taking part in a federal medical trial recently had their private health data compromised when a researcher’s laptop computer was stolen. The National Institutes of Health, which was responsible for safeguarding the data, made things worse by delaying in notifying the patients. This…
Author: Dissent
MD: Patient data exposed online
In a follow-up t0 a story first reported here, Liz F. Kay of the Baltimore Sun reports: A CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield dental HMO accidentally exposed personal information, including Social Security numbers, of about 75,000 members on a public Web site last month and didn’t notify them until about three weeks later. The Dental Network, which…
Commentary: Paternalism — and protectionism — rears its ugly head
In the past few days, I’ve read two articles that are of particular concern to me because they raise the specter of “physician as God” when it comes to online health records or information. The first article, by Thomas Goetz in the New York Times, discusses a web site called PatientsLikeMe.com where patients can share…
Abortion provider ordered to retrain employees on medical waste disposal
In a follow-up to a story reported previously, Kim Kozlowski of the Detroit News reports: The Lathrup Village abortion clinic that was under investigation this month for improper disposal of medical waste and documents has been asked to retrain its employees on handling of medical waste by next month, according to a letter mailed today…
Ethical treatment of whole genome research participants
Seen on Huliq.com: Recent technological developments have made it possible for scientists to sequence an entire human genome, but these advances may be a mixed blessing. While much has been made of the benefits of whole-genome sequencing, from improved disease diagnosis to rational drug design, the impacts on the privacy and autonomy of individual participants…
Ca: Patient files found in vacant Yorkton office space
Angela Hall writes in the Leader-Post: REGINA — Hundreds of patient files have been discovered in a vacant Yorkton office space, prompting an investigation by the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. An anonymous complaint tipped the commissioner’s office to the presence of five large boxes containing what appears to be physician records for as many…