New York Times
March 26, 2008
This article starts out by citing to incidents where lab tops were stolen containing medical, personal information of patients taking part in federal medical trials. In the first case, the patients were not contacted immediately about their stolen information. In the second case, the data was not encrypted making it easy for an outsider to read and the institute also waited about a month to notify patients about their lost data. This stolen private information is serious because patients might not want their employers or insurance agencies to know of their conditions. Also patient’s trust will decline in these clinical trials making them less likely to participate. Years ago, a computer was stolen containing social security numbers and other personal information of veterans. The department waited around three weeks before contacting the veterans. The author goes on to say that a solution needs to be implemented instead of just apologies for their mess-ups. There should be a federal law executing a strict privacy policy like the Trust Act.
This article was very interesting, as well as informative. The author seemed to be very passionate about this issue and wants a solution enacted now. I think this is a major problem that needs to be fixed. The author seemed very credible citing sources and referring to past problems and acts passed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It's sad to see that you can't really trust anyone these days. Not even if you volunteer to be a lab rat, it seems the people would try a little harder to protect their patients personal information.
Post a Comment