Category: Health Data

  The World Privacy Forum filed comments today with the Office of Human Research Protection urging the office to do more to protect the privacy of people who are subjects of research. The comments urge the OHRP to focus more attention on providing privacy-specific training for boards overseeing research, which are often weak in knowledge…

After Elizabeth Dove saw her GP about suspected depression she was dismayed and angry to find that her sensitive NHS records were put on a database which was shared with staff at the local council. But it was no mistake: Dove discovered that it is routine for the NHS to make medical information on some…

Leo King reports: The British Medical Association has said it would have preferred patients to be asked by their GP before information was uploaded to a central NHS data ‘spine’ under the £12.7 billion National Programme for IT. But it said new rules that mean doctors have to ask for patients’ permission to view their…

Heather Clark of the Associated Press reports: Two University of New Mexico Hospital employees have been fired for using their cell phone cameras to take photos of patients receiving treatment and then posting the images to a social networking Web site. Director of Public Affairs Sam Giammo said Sunday the photos — mainly close-ups of…

While the Department of Health and Human Services has taken positive actions to implement electronic health records, it still does not have a system for addressing issues of privacy protection, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. HHS implemented several measures to address these concerns following the release of a January 2007…

nbsp; The Government is considering giving firms access to a massive computer database which will contain the records of almost every man, woman and child in England. The information is a goldmine for private companies, who could use it for medical research or for helping them to sell products to the NHS. But privacy campaigners…