Responding to all the media hype about how German privacy laws contributed to the Germanwings tragedy, Carissa Véliz writes, in part: Frank Ulrich Montgomery, president of the German Medical Association (BÄK), disagrees. He pointed out that, under current laws, aviation doctors are relieved of their duties of confidentiality if they think a pilot could put other people’s lives at…
Category: Healthcare
Squealing on DNA: the law and secondary uses of genetic information
Professor Nils Hoppe has an article in BioNews that I recommend you read. It begins: One of the legally and ethically problematic issues regularly debated in the context of biobanks and tissue repositories is that of its potential for forensic use. When Anna Lindh (the Swedish foreign minister) was murdered in 2003, her killer was subsequently…
UK: Police Action Demanded After NHS-Backed Pharmacy Sells Personal Data to Marketing Firms
Donna Rachel Edmunds reports: Thousands of patients have had their personal information sold to marketing companies after using an NHS-approved online pharmacy. Many of those who had their information flogged were using the Pharmacy2U service because they were too old or sick to travel to a chemist. The transaction was just one example of many…
Calif. Patients Say HIEs Worsen Patient Data Privacy
Elizabeth Snell reports: While EHRs and HIEs are being touted as necessary tools for the improvement of the nation’s healthcare system, some Californians believe that the use of HIEs in fact worsen patient data privacy, according to a recent study. Approximately 40 percent of respondents think HIE worsens privacy while nearly one-third think it improves privacy…