Improving healthcare safety by reducing errors in patient identification usually sounds like a good idea. And more reliable patient identification would reduce or eliminate the majority of cases of medical identity theft where someone knowingly lends or gives their health insurance information to a family member or friend who doesn’t have health insurance. But are…
Category: Healthcare
US appeals court reinstates Guam in-person abortion counseling law
Nate Raymond reports: A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a law requiring that women in Guam meet with doctors in person before obtaining abortions, a restriction that has made terminating pregnancies in the U.S. territory difficult due to a lack of doctors. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a judge’s 2021 ruling…
Judge blocks Idaho prosecution of out-of-state abortion referrals
Daniel Trotta reports: A U.S. judge on Monday blocked the state of Idaho at least temporarily from prosecuting doctors who refer patients out of state to get an abortion, finding that would violate a medical provider’s right to free speech. U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill agreed with a challenge led by Planned Parenthood…
ICO reprimands NHS Lanarkshire for sharing patient data via WhatsApp
From the U.K. Information Commissioner: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire, following staff’s unauthorised use of WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data over the course of two years. Between April 2020 and April 2022, 26 staff at NHS Lanarkshire had access to a WhatsApp group where patient data was entered…