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Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB
Maybe she's referring to electronic medical recordkeeping? If so, she should know that that's something many people in the medical community have been wanting for quite a long time. It's not only an efficiency/money saving issue, but it's a huge safety issue as well. Do you realize that right now, people can go from hospital to hospital with no trace of which drugs they may be taking or which procedures and conditions they've had in the past? It's a great way to enable prescription drug abuse. Furthermore, if you were taken to the ER, unconscious, the medical team these days might have no idea which medications you were taking, which drugs you might be allergic to, whether you've had your spleen removed, etc. By keeping medical records in one database, doctors attending to you whereever you may be know your medical history, which just might save your life. Of course, there are security issues that need to be addressed with such a system (we don't want people hacking into it), but overall the idea is sound, I think.
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The privacy issue is huge. It's possible that the benefits to patients may outweigh the risks, but there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about this.
I think one of the issues that will seem weird is employer-based insurance oversight with easy access to your whole history, but hey, maybe we'll get nationalized health care too, so that won't matter. Imagine the customer service and quality you associate with the DMV but with access to all your medical records. Awesome.
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