Courthouse News reports: An emergency room nurse says a cop arrested her for not collecting blood from a suspected drunken driver when asked, the nurse claims in Chicago Federal Court. Lisa Hofstra says she was the emergency room charge nurse at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago at 4 a.m. on Aug. 1 when a Chicago Police…
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France advises businesses of employee data collection in light of swine flu epidemic
In anticipation of the Swine Flu and the consequences that it may have upon the continuity of the business of companies, the French Data Protection Agency (known under the acronym “CNIL”) recently issued recommendations regarding employers’ collection of employee data in connection with their swine flu business continuity programs. […] Such plans of action may…
South Africa's plan to make HIV testing compulsory 'breaches patients' human rights'
A controversial plan to make HIV testing compulsory in South Africa has been criticised by campaigners who argue it would breach patients’ human rights. Politicians proposed that anyone visiting a doctor would be automatically tested for the virus. Western Cape health minister Theuns Botha said the system would be a ‘major onslaught’ in the battle…
UK police want to tag medical records of gun license holders
In a recent news story out of the UK, Barnaby Dracup reported: The shooting community is up in arms over a controversial new proposal to electronically tag medical records of gun licence holders. The British Medical Association (BMA) and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) have revealed that they are currently discussing ways doctors can…
Electronic health records open patient privacy questions
Alice Lipowicz reports: A federal advisory panel today heard several proposals about how to best protect patient privacy while creating and sharing electronic health records (EHRs). The Health Information Technology Policy Committee convened to prepare recommendations to the Health and Human Services Department on distributing $19 billion in economic stimulus funding for incentive payments for EHRs…
EPIC Urges Appeals Court to Protect Prescription Data
From EPIC.org: EPIC filed a friend of the court brief in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today, urging the judges to uphold a Vermont law that regulates companies that sell or use prescriber-identifiable data for marketing. Several data-mining companies challenged the law after it was upheld by a district court. EPIC’s amicus…