Virginia Tech gunman Seung Hui Cho had been treated at the college’s counseling center before the shooting rampage in which he killed 32 students, contradicting earlier accounts of his psychiatric history, according to newly discovered mental health records located in the home of the center’s former director. According to a memo written by a university…
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Baseball's Use of DNA Raises Questions
Confronted with cases of identity and age falsification by Latin American baseball prospects, Major League Baseball is conducting genetic testing on some promising young players and their parents. Many experts in genetics consider such testing a violation of personal privacy. Federal legislation, signed into law last year and scheduled to take effect Nov. 21, prohibits…
Multiple EHR certifying entities proposed
While people are kicking around certifying EHR systems, core issues of consent have not been adequately addressed. So what are we certifying — that System A will comply with laws and standards that stripped you of your right to control who has access to your electronic health records? Initial recommendations of the federal HIT Policy…
Porn Actress Says State Intruded on Privacy
A porn film actress whose positive HIV test made news in June claims [pdf] state health officials violated her rights by demanding her medical records. Filing her complaint under the name “Patient Zero,” the woman sued California OSHA and the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation. Zero claims that after she tested positive for HIV, the…
Musings on privacy issues in health research involving disaggregate geographic data about individuals
Maged N Kamel Boulos, Andrew J Curtis, and Philip AbdelMalik International Journal of Health Geographics 2009, 8:46doi:10.1186/1476-072X-8-46 Published: 20 July 2009 Abstract (provisional) This paper offers a state-of-the-art overview of the intertwined privacy, confidentiality, and security issues that are commonly encountered in health research involving disaggregate geographic data about individuals. Key definitions are provided, along…
Deborah Peel: Comments on guilty plea
In response to the guilty plea by three employees of St. Vincent Health System, reported here earlier today, Dr. Deborah Peel of PatientPrivacyRights.org issued the following statement: Facebook users can keep people from seeing their walls, but patients can’t keep anyone from seeing their electronic medical records. What’s interesting is how severe the penalties could…