Anat Even-Chen, Ben Norman, and Karin Kashi of the Israeli law firm BarLaw write:
The Israeli Privacy Protection Authority (PPA) recently published a document for public comments entitled, “Protecting Patients’ Privacy When Transferring Medical Information via Digital Devices and Undesignated Software.”
This document presents the PPA’s position on the responsibility of healthcare service providers and medical professionals when using a variety of digital devices (smartphones, handheld computers, laptops, etc.) and messaging software (such as Gmail, WhatsApp, etc.) for the purpose of transferring sensitive medical information about patients.
In this document, the PPA states that the responsibility for safeguarding medical information falls on the medical institution as the database owner. The PPA expresses its concerns about potential infringement of patients’ privacy due to the growing use of software such as Gmail, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., and as a result of medical professionals using their personal mobile phones to photograph and document medical information and then forward it to various parties.
Read more at BarLaw.