Author: Dissent

Ruth Hill of The Dominion Post reports: Concerns about the privacy of women seeking abortions stopped clinicians alerting authorities to botched sterilisations at Wanganui Hospital, MPs have been told. Whanganui District Health Board chief executive Memo Musa told Parliament’s health select committee yesterday that the board had not followed proper procedures when appointing Czech-trained surgeon…

Bruce Schneier writes about recent news stories concerning hacking medical devices: Okay, so this could be big news: But a team of computer security researchers plans to report Wednesday that it had been able to gain wireless access to a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker.They were able to reprogram it to shut down and to…

Victoria Colliver writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: Aetna Inc. is offering its members a new online search tool that connects to easy-to-understand articles, local doctors who specialize in their needs, as well as cost information based on their personal health record and benefits. The service is a result of a partnership with Healthline Networks,…

Tom Fahey writes in the Union Leader: A bill that would give patients specific privacy rights in electronic medical records is drawing opposition from hospitals and health providers. The bill due for a vote tomorrow tries to balance privacy concerns against the move to electronic medical records, which the health industry says will increase health…

Michael S. Gerber writes in the Washington Post: With hundreds of options, how do you choose a personal health record (PHR), assuming you’re so inclined? Here are some suggestions. For general information: The American Health Information Management Association runs myPHR.com, a Web site that provides information on personal health records. The site lists PHRs by…

Craig Stoltz writes in the Washington Post: Personal health records, or PHRs, were all the buzz at last week’s health-tech conference in San Diego — especially recent entries by Google and Microsoft that have the rest of the industry energized, focused and at least a little bit frightened. Bill Reid, director of Microsoft’s HealthVault program,…