Author: Dissent

Is your medical privacy dependent, in part, on whether you are a healthcare professional? John Dorschner and Patrick Danner write in the Miami Herald: In August 2006, the former wife of a Broward psychologist sent a letter to state authorities saying she had visited his home ‘and saw cocaine paraphernalia, an empty bottle of Oxycontin…

Bruce Einhorn writes in BusinessWeek: For years, Americans have been traveling abroad to save money on elective procedures or dental work. David Boucher, 49, doesn’t fit the usual profile for such medical tourists. An assistant vice-president of health-care services at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of South Carolina, he has ample health benefits. But Boucher…

Seen on the ThisIsGuernsey web site: A MAJOR security flaw left exposed the whole of the States internet system and put at risk personal data belonging to individuals in a care home. At this stage, it is not known whether there has been any malicious access to the information.What was a catastrophe waiting to happen…

Avi Baumstein writes in InformationWeek: Are peer-to-peer networks really filled with sensitive corporate data just waiting to be plucked and abused? It seems unlikely–surely people wouldn’t be that sloppy. Like a 19th century prospector, I decided to dip my pan into the stream to see what I could find. The results were shocking and scary–loads…

Dan Abendschein writes: Pharmaceutical companies could gain access to medical records to send reminders to patients to refill prescriptions, if a state bill is passed. The bill, SB 1096, was introduced by state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello. It allows pharmaceutical companies to purchase the information from the pharmacies that serve individual patients. But it does…

Steven Price writes in the Media Law Journal: Last August, the BSA upheld a complaint from Dr Stephanie du Fresne, the medical director of a mental health clinic, about an interview with one of her committed patients conducted without the clinic’s knowledge. TV3 News interviewed the woman about her electric shock treatment, which she didn’t…