Re: Confidentiality Policies

[James Love <love@tap.org>]

  On Wed, 8 May 1996, Lewis Lorton wrote:
  > >   Ok Lew, thanks for using simple sentences.  Here are two for you.  
  > >1.  Should a patient who goes to a shrink and uses insurance to pay for it
  > >have the right to prevent medical researchers, public health officials,
  > >and others from getting access to his records? 
  > These may be simple sentences but not simple questions.  
  > 1. rephrased - Should a person seen by a psychiatrist have the right to deny
  > informing the insurance company of the diagnosis? No.  This would establish
  > a situation where the insurance company is required to reimburse for unknown
  > types and costs of care. 
  
     
        rephrased, AND TWISTED.  I didn't say, should the insurance company 
  get the info, although one might question this.  I asked if health 
  researchers, public health officals and others should get this without 
  consent (as is permitted under S. 1360).  
  
  > 2. What genetic tests are you referring to?
  > But these are far from the most important issues which should fuel the
  > privacy/confidentiality movement! These problems have nothing to do with the
  > elctronic data issues which are at the center of the S1360 debates. The
  > crucial issues are the problems of defining and managing access and the
  > extreme technological overhead induced by intricate access rules. 
  
  
            I'll take this as "I won't answer that question, because it 
  might impeach my arguments."
  
  > Psychiatric and psychologic care make up a small percentage of actual care
  > and a minuscule percentage of data.  Standards for managing this information
  > should not govern the management of all data.  
  
       I don't think with is much comfort to the patient who sees the shrink.
  
   jamie
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  James Love / love@tap.org / P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
  Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax 202/234-5176
  Center for Study of Responsive Law
     Consumer Project on Technology; http://www.essential.org/cpt
     Taxpayer Assets Project; http://www.tap.org
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~