Grant M. Gallagher reports: Increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have health officials warning of a public health crisis in the United States. There is evidence that some pediatricians are reserved in talking to at-risk teenagers about STIs and testing. Additionally, when adolescents are diagnosed with STIs in the emergency room, research has found that more than 40% do…
Category: Healthcare
Coronavirus privacy: Top B.C. doc defends policy
Alan Campbell reports: B.C.’s health authorities have defended their protection of people’s privacy when it comes to revealing details of coronavirus cases. It was revealed last week that the province’s sixth case of the virus (COVID-19) was a woman from the Fraser Health region, who had recently returned from Iran. Read more on Richmond News.
Health apps can change their terms of service without users’ knowledge
Nicole Wetsman reports: When someone downloads a new application, one of the first steps is usually agreeing to the terms of service of that app. That (usually mindless) sign-off creates a contract between the app company and the user. Usually, contracts happen when two parties sit down and agree on terms. But for consumer products…
Trump’s next health care move: Giving Silicon Valley your medical data
Darius Tahir and Adam Cancryn report: The Trump administration’s push to give patients more control over their health records could turn over a massive trove of very personal data to giant tech companies, app designers and data brokers. If proposed policy changes go through, patients would be able to download their health records on to…