Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (R), who is running for re-election in November, on Friday said he not was trying to further a political agenda but to protect children when he sought access to the medical records of 90 women and girls who in 2003 underwent late-term abortions at two clinics, the Dodge City Daily Globe reports (Swanson, Dodge City Daily Globe, 8/30).
Doctors are raising a series of concerns about the confidentiality of the electronic care records system.
In a public-health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they’re sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday.
Of the 19,420 grievances lodged so far, the most common allegations have been that personal medical details were wrongly revealed, information was poorly protected, more details were disclosed than necessary, proper authorization was not obtained or patients were frustrated getting their own records.
Social Security numbers and other personal information for nearly 17,000 Medicare beneficiaries could have been compromised when an insurance company employee called up the data on a hotel computer and then failed to delete the file.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GPs committee, said there were concerns over patient confidentiality that needed to be addressed before the scheme was rolled out.
Will the much-vaunted 6.2 billion NHS e-revolution work? Sam Lister visits the first hospital phasing it in.
WEST PALM BEACH – A highly confidential list of the names and addresses of 4,500 Palm Beach County residents with AIDS and 2,000 others who are HIV positive was e-mailed Thursday to more than 800 county health department employees.
A major expansion of the use of genetic technology to tackle medical problems has been announced by Health Secretary John Reid.
Students should be allowed to take “smart drugs”, such as Ritalin, to help boost their academic performance, a leading academic has suggested. John Harris, professor of bioethics and director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, said the government and medical profession should “seriously consider” making cognition-enhancing drugs available to students without prescription, or allowing them to be prescribed for non-therapeutic purposes, such as studying.
