Today’s tube strike could cause a corporate data loss ‘timebomb’ as London-based employees work from home. Mark Darvill, director at AEP Networks, said that the industrial action by the RMT and TSSA unions will not only disrupt journeys to and from work, but will drive employees to take vast amounts of confidential data out of the office…
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Anonymized health IT data still traceable, House panel warned
More coverage of the risks of de-identified patient data being reidentified. David Perera reports: As electronic health records start to become pervasive in physician practices–thanks in no small measure to federal incentives–there’s a growing worry that electronically-collected health data could violate individual privacy, even when the data has been stripped of personally identifiable information. Testifying…
CO: Does New DNA Law Violate Privacy?
Marshall Zelinger reports (emphasis added by me): It may not be until the middle of October when we find out if the state’s new DNA law can help solve any cold cases. At 12:01 a.m. Thursday, law enforcement could begin getting a DNA sample from anyone arrested and suspected of a felony. Prior to Thursday,…
AZ: Judge denies use of victim's medical records in upcoming murder trial
Ben Backhaus reports on a case where the judge has already had to weigh the privacy of medical records of the deceased vs. the right of the defense to put on its defense: Jeffrey Martinson’s defense counsel will have to dig deeper for evidence after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sally Duncan rejected its request…
ONC studying risks of de-identified patient records
Mary Mosquera reports on a privacy issue that I’ve discussed a number of times: that use of allegedly “de-identified” patient information risks re-identification and all that goes with it. The Office of the National Coordinator has begun a study on how to overcome the privacy and security risks of using health information that otherwise has…
U.S. scientists experimented on Guatamalan mental patients and prisoners, giving them STDs in govt-funded studies
Dr. Ken Pope writes on his mail list: An article with information relevant to patients’ informed consent, protection of human subjects, and the history of medical experimentation is scheduled for publication in the January, 2011, issue of Journal of Policy History. The article is “”Normal Exposure” and Inoculation Syphilis: A PHS ‘Tuskegee’ Doctor in Guatemala,…