Electronic Medical Records & Patient Confidentiality

Terri Williams

November 16, 2012

https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/electronic-medical-records-patient-confidentiality

 "For Patient and Doctor's Eyes Only"  

First Impression:

Electronic medical records are basically like posts in social media: it can be breached and can be seen by everyone online.

Quote: 

" “First do no harm” is not limited to medical care: the Hippocratic oath also extends to patient confidentiality."

Reflection Proper: 

When it comes to data privacy, personal information is a must to be private at all time and completely secure; same goes to such things like one's medical information. Like every piece of information, of course, medical information can have large effects when in the wrong hands, and when it becomes something like electronic medical records, that sort of thing becomes questionable due to the fact that, according to Terri Williams, " the unauthorized access and distribution of electronic health records is a major ethical—and sometimes, legal—issue confronting medical professionals." According to the article, unauthorized access and distribution of electronic health records, or rather the public disclosure of health data breach information, leads to a lot of nasty consequences and actions such as for instance: identity theft via breaching electronic medical records, health insurance and personal information; everyone knowing where the patient lives leading to possible home invasion and stalking, or any type of unethical crime one can think of when it comes to getting ahold of personal information via one's medical record. Personally, I think that people's personal data should always be private and when shared with others, even medical providers, the information must be limited to a degree that it doesn't give any future possibility of what the information stated can be used against the one giving the information to the one asking for it. Also, all medical institutions and health care providers should take active and tighter security measures in order to ensure that their patients never have to worry about their medical care and personal privacy, and also to stop the overcoming insidious breaching and data hacking and to really ensure true patient confidentiality, regardless of what type of business they are running, regardless even if the institution or providing business is understaffed, underfunded, and overworked, because one should know and respect the ethical responsibility of taking care of their patients. As the Hippocratic oath states, "Do no harm to your patient", and this is an oath taken by anyone involved in a medical-related business, and doing no harm to patients extends to patient confidentiality, electronic-related or not.

5 Things Learned From Article: 

1. I learned about the unauthorized access and distribution of electronic health records.

2. I learned about another type of identity theft: medical identity theft.

3. I learned that all health care providers and medical institutions should have tighter security measures in order to ensure true patient confidentiality.

4. I learned that being a sideline spectator to these sort of things is never an option.

5. I learned about the importance of the Hippocratic Oath.

5 Integrative Questions:

1. What do medical institutions prefer to use -- electronic or physical health record files?

2. Do people get the right to limit their information they share with their medical providers or doctors when it comes to their health records?

3. What's a good suggestion for security measures to stop medical record hacking and ensure true and secure patient confidentiality?

4. Who came up with the idea of electronic health records in the first place?

5. Do all medical institutions respect the Hippocratic Oath?