Over on Concurring Opinions, Frank Pasquale responds to an investigative piece in the Washington Post: In an article entitled “Monitoring America,” Dana Priest and William Arkin describe an extraordinary pattern of governmental surveillance. To be sure, in the wake of the attacks of 9/11, there are important reasons to increase the government’s ability to understand threats…
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AZ: Catholic Church's Informant Didn't Violate Privacy Laws in Blabbing Patient Info to Diocese, St. Joseph's Hospital Says
Ray Stern reports: If you’ve been following the news today, you already know that the Catholic Church stripped St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix of its religious affilation because of a surgery last year that involved the death of an unborn child. (Whether it was an abortion, per se, is apparently one of the issues up for debate.) We…
Facebook "threat to patient relations"
Doctors could be threatening their confidential relationship with patients by using Facebook, experts have said. A survey of medics in France has revealed that most of the 73% with a profile on the social networking site displayed enough personal information to be identified. Information given out on the site included information on current job titles,…
Vermont petitions the Supreme Court to consider Sorrell v. IMS Health
Conor McGilvy of SCOTUSblog provides some helpful links on Vermont’s recent petition to the Supreme Court to overturn the Second Circuit’s decision in Sorrell v. IMS Health. The case concerns a state law that restricted access to prescription drug records and that required patient consent for disclosure of the records for sales or marketing purposes….
Ca: N.S. health privacy law concerns journalists
The Canadian Press reports: Nova Scotia legislation that aims to protect personal health records but also raises fears that it’s too restrictive on the media has passed. Fred Vallance-Jones, a journalism professor at the University of King’s College in Halifax, has said the law could see journalists face fines of up to $10,000 or six…
World Privacy Forum comments about Personal Health Records and online advertising
The World Privacy Forum filed comments on Dec. 10 about how medical records and other health information is intersecting with online advertising and online activities. The WPF comments were filed with the Department of Health and Human Services in response to its request for comments on personal health records, privacy, and social media. Read the…