Electronic Medical Records - Pro or Con?

Elizabeth Roberts Living With It Author & IBD Patient Hello, I am a freelance writer and editor living in... Send Message Subscribe: Elizabeth Roberts

Monday, January 19, 2009
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For this weeks blog I’m going to go back to my old life and put on my political hat to talk about electronic medical records. If you’re one of the many looking for change between the Bush and Obama Administrations, you won’t find it when it comes to the government’s push ...

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Patient-doctor confidentiality
Ali
Monday, January 26, 2009 at 10:10 AM

I don't think this process will lead to as many problems as you listed in your post. Patient-doctor confidentiality will still be in place, so it won't be so easy for employers, etc. to check up on you - or it certainly won't be LEGAL, at least. And having worked in a doctor's office during college, I can tell you it would have been just as easy for the snoopy neighbor to check up on you with paper charts as with electronic!

There are many pros to going electronic, which in my opinion include the ones you mention and question - greater readability to avoid any medical mistakes, and coming up with better treatments. Others include better back-up of medical info, and I hope it will lead to more environmentally friendly record keeping.

re: Patient-doctor confidentiality
Sunne
Monday, January 26, 2009 at 10:48 AM

Where and in how many places is this formerly "private" information going to be stored? When the server goes down or internet is out for any reason, how will doctors proceed with treatment and/or remain on schedule? And what happens when this data is inevitably hacked (easily done with a little determination, given the frequency with which bank/financial institutions and others need to inform their customers of a security breach - twice in the last 18 months for me)?

This IS a disaster waiting to happen.

re: Patient-doctor confidentiality
Elizabeth Roberts
Monday, January 26, 2009 at 02:45 PM

Hi Ali,

As always, I respect your opinion, but simply disagree with it. Whether something is legal or not doesn't always protect what is right. Remember a year or so ago when a Hewlett-Packard senior official was prosecuted for tapping the phones of employees and listening in on conversations that were had with reporters? Well, that wasn't legal, but it happened, the information that was gleaned from the illegal actions was used, and the rest is history.

It would be wonderful if we lived in a world where everybody followed the rules, played nicely, and we could trust everyone. But, the reality is that's just not reality. And I feel it is incumbent upon patients to know their rights, to know what could happen to their private medical files, and to fight to keep their private information private.

Technology has pros and cons, and it's usually not until privacy has been breached that we really hear about the cons. I for one am completely against electronic medical files in this country EVER.

But, that's just my opinion.