Raquel Maria Dillon of the Associated Press writes: A Los Angeles judge has issued a ruling on a search of a computer seized from a psychiatrist in an investigation of drug prescriptions issued to Anna Nicole Smith after her overdose death last year. An attorney for Dr. Khristine Eroshevich sought Monday to have the computer…
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Healthcare practitioners with drug problems hidden by the system
Is your medical privacy dependent, in part, on whether you are a healthcare professional? John Dorschner and Patrick Danner write in the Miami Herald: In August 2006, the former wife of a Broward psychologist sent a letter to state authorities saying she had visited his home ‘and saw cocaine paraphernalia, an empty bottle of Oxycontin…
Outsourcing the Patients
Bruce Einhorn writes in BusinessWeek: For years, Americans have been traveling abroad to save money on elective procedures or dental work. David Boucher, 49, doesn’t fit the usual profile for such medical tourists. An assistant vice-president of health-care services at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of South Carolina, he has ample health benefits. But Boucher…
California bill aims to open medical records
Dan Abendschein writes: Pharmaceutical companies could gain access to medical records to send reminders to patients to refill prescriptions, if a state bill is passed. The bill, SB 1096, was introduced by state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello. It allows pharmaceutical companies to purchase the information from the pharmacies that serve individual patients. But it does…
NZ: HC overturns BSA privacy decision
Steven Price writes in the Media Law Journal: Last August, the BSA upheld a complaint from Dr Stephanie du Fresne, the medical director of a mental health clinic, about an interview with one of her committed patients conducted without the clinic’s knowledge. TV3 News interviewed the woman about her electric shock treatment, which she didn’t…
E-medicine: It has strong devotees, but privacy issues slow growth of valuable programs
Getahn Ward writes in The Tennessean: With the click of a computer mouse, Nashville businessman Doug Smith can see his personal health records, including medical lab results, and communicate by e-mail with his doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. That access came in handy recently when Smith saw a mention in radiology test results that…