Brian
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Post by Brian on Jan 29, 2009 20:02:24 GMT -5
Some interesting comments from the blog of Wendy McElroy... Your medical recordBy Wendy McElroy An aspect of Canada's socialized medicine that deserves more attention is the absolute lack of privacy it offers to patients. After all, he who pays the piper...and, since the government pays, the government claims the right to know all aspects of your medical care from abortion to psychiatric treatment to sexual diseases. If you need a life-saving operation later on -- an operation that requires allocating scarce resources like money and doctors' time -- an unpleasant possiblity hovers over your prospects. Your past medical history may be used to deny or delay the procedure, if only by dropping you to the bottom of a waiting list. For example, a lifelong smoker or drinker may be deemed less eligible for "saving" than a non. A while back, I was lucky enough to have a politically old-fashioned doctor who believed in dr-patient confidentiality. She sidestepped the government's demand to access patient histories by writing 'sensitive' information on the inside cover of the file folder, which was never photocopied and easily replaced. Today I go to an equally competent doctor with whom I am generally happy but who (I am sure) would turn over vials of my blood to the government if requested to do so. Now the American Institute for Health Freedom (IHF) warns that the economic stimulus bill [offered by Obama] mandates electronic health records for every citizen without providing for opt-out or patient consent provisions. "Without those protections, Americans’ electronic health records could be shared—without their consent—with over 600,000 covered entities through the forthcoming nationally linked electronic health-records network," says Sue Blevins, IHF president. Some groups are calling for privacy standards and safeguards. (See news coverage in Yahoo Tech.) Others point to existing standards and safeguards. For me, the bottomline is...once government has control and files are accessed without patient permission, then privacy is already gone, baby, gone. Besides which, it is the government from whom I am eager to shield my private life. Thus government's assurance that "data will go no further" is meaningless. It is akin to the assurance of a thief who declares "I promise to not resell your stolen property." www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2233
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 29, 2009 20:41:48 GMT -5
Who the heck is Wendy McElroy? The website doesn't say a damn thing.
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 29, 2009 20:44:25 GMT -5
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Post by Rob on Jan 29, 2009 22:54:25 GMT -5
Even better, an individual anarchist. If I think about that, my head starts to spin around.
Brian, what is it you think your government doesn't know about you already?
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 30, 2009 5:03:28 GMT -5
Ms. McElroy should have done her homework.
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Post by MacBeth on Jan 30, 2009 6:31:04 GMT -5
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 30, 2009 6:48:33 GMT -5
The problem is that her allegation about the Canadian Government having our medical history is flat out wrong.
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Calluna
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Post by Calluna on Jan 30, 2009 8:05:56 GMT -5
She sounds like someone who needs a tinfoil hat. Seriously, her whole argument seems to be based on her paranoia of the government getting her medical records. I don't think so many people would worry what happens with their medical records if the government was guaranteeing they'd get healthcare; it's the insurance companies that get them that cause trouble by deeming things pre-existing conditions and then not covering them.
My concern with government healthcare has much more to do with inefficiencies of government. I'd be less worried about them having my medical records and more worried that they'd be lost and require a mound of red tape to track down when I needed them.
As for things written on the inside of the folder on medical records, I dunno. I always thought that's where docs mostly wrote notes like the names of someone's kids, their favorite baseball team, and other personal details that aren't medically relevant but can be quickly referenced to make the patients feel more like their doc remembered all these details from their last visit to create a better rapport.
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 30, 2009 8:16:01 GMT -5
About the only thing that's available is prescription records and that has more to do with patient safety than anything else.
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Post by Georgina on Jan 30, 2009 10:14:32 GMT -5
Evidently McElroy doesn't know how the Canadian medical system works. I wonder what profit people see in making up nonsense about other health care systems. Sure, it scares Americans, but is she somehow a beneficiary if Americans don't get universal healthcare?
Calluna, your medical records would sooner get lost in the States because the insurance companies get copies of information. In Canada, your doctor has your medical records, not the government.
Back to McElroy, the government never makes a decision about your treatment. And we have confidentiality laws here. Even if "the government" (although I can't figure out who) wanted to see your health records, the individual would have to sign a release first. And "the government" (again, I have no clue 'who' in the government) does not have vials of blood of Canadian citizens stored somewhere. Good heavens.
Edited because I missed a couple of words.
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 30, 2009 10:29:47 GMT -5
Add to that the fact that the Canadian government doesn't even administer our health care system. The individual Provinces do that. The only hands-on involvement of the Canadian government is in the area of funding and on occasion attaching conditions as to how those funds are to be used.
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Post by MacBeth on Jan 30, 2009 12:09:36 GMT -5
And McElroy is Canadian.....so is it lack of knowledge or politically motivated misstatement of the truth?
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 30, 2009 12:30:50 GMT -5
Beats me, Beth. But anarchists revel in, well, anarchy, so who is to know what any of it is other than to create confusion?
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Post by Peltigera on Jan 30, 2009 16:30:40 GMT -5
It always amazes me when Americans talk about the government running health care. In the UK we have the National Health Service which is run by the government in as much as the Minister of Health has oversight of the service and appoints the person in charge. The government has no access to patient notes (all of which are on computer. If I am taken ill in another part of the country, the Accident and Emergency depart in that town can access my medical records thus ensuring I get effective and safe treatment) nor can they have any effect on patient care - all is managed by doctors only.
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Calluna
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Post by Calluna on Jan 30, 2009 17:26:14 GMT -5
And McElroy is Canadian.....so is it lack of knowledge or politically motivated misstatement of the truth? I'm still voting that she's in need of a tinfoil hat. What on earth would the government do with copies of medical records on all their citizens anyway? Good grief! She's describing it like every record is photocopied and sent off to some giant storage location.
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Post by MacBeth on Jan 30, 2009 17:38:18 GMT -5
She's not American, John. This particular nut bar is Canadian
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Jan 30, 2009 18:44:42 GMT -5
She's on our exportation list. LOL
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Post by Georgina on Jan 30, 2009 23:29:36 GMT -5
I'm slack-jawed in my surprise at McElroy being Canadian. What on earth is she talking about, then?
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Calluna
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Post by Calluna on Jan 30, 2009 23:44:07 GMT -5
I'm slack-jawed in my surprise at McElroy being Canadian. What on earth is she talking about, then? Did you think being an ignorant paranoid idiot spewing misinformation was something entirely reserved for Americans? ;D Looks like you've got at least one up there too.
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Post by Georgina on Jan 31, 2009 1:10:23 GMT -5
Did you think being an ignorant paranoid idiot spewing misinformation was something entirely reserved for Americans? ;D Looks like you've got at least one up there too. Well, no, actually Canada has more than its fair share of idiots spewing all sorts of stuff. Of that I'm well aware. It's this person's fundamental lack of understanding about how her own country's healthcare system operates that blows me away. She doesn't know that her doctor maintains her health records and not the government? How does someone who lives here not know that?
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Calluna
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Post by Calluna on Jan 31, 2009 11:33:13 GMT -5
Psst...it was a rhetorical question.
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Post by Peltigera on Jan 31, 2009 13:54:31 GMT -5
She's not American, John. This particular nut bar is Canadian And where is Canada?
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Post by Peltigera on Jan 31, 2009 13:55:44 GMT -5
Did you think being an ignorant paranoid idiot spewing misinformation was something entirely reserved for Americans? ;D P We were hoping so!
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Post by MacBeth on Jan 31, 2009 14:14:18 GMT -5
Wendy McElroyWendy McElroy (born 1951) is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. Political views Among feminists, she identifies herself as being sex-positive: defending the availability of pornography and condemning anti-pornography feminism campaigns.[1] She has also voiced criticism of sexual harassment policies, particularly the zero-tolerance policies common to grade schools, which she considers to be "far too broad and vague" and lacking the sound research necessary to guide responsible policy-making decisions.[2] In explaining her position in regard to capitalism[3], she says she has a "marked personal preference for capitalism as the most productive, fair and sensible economic system on the face of the earth," but also recognizes that the free market permits other kinds of systems as well. She says what she wants for society is "not necessarily a capitalistic arrangement but a free market system in which everyone can make the peaceful choices they wish with their own bodies and labor." Therefore, she doesn't call herself a capitalist but someone for a "free market."[3] McElroy wrote Queen Silver: The Godless Girl about her friend Queen Selections Silver. Silver was a left-wing anarchist, but despite vigorous political difference, the two remained close. McElroy has a regular column on ifeminists.com,[4] is a member of the Liberty and Power group weblog at the History News Network, and is a frequent contributor to Lewrockwell.com. She credits Murray Rothbard's book "Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles" as being "solely responsible for turning [her] from the advocacy of limited government to a lifetime of work within the individualist-anarchist tradition."[5] BooksNational Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition, by Carl Watner, Wendy McElroy, January 1, 2004 ISBN 0-7864-1595-9 Debates of Liberty: An Overview of Individualist Anarchism, 1881-1908, February 1, 2003 ISBN 0-7391-0473-X Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century, May 1, 2002 ISBN 1-56663-435-0 Sexual Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women, June 2001 Dissenting Electorate: Those Who Refuse to Vote and the Legitimacy of Their Opposition by Carl Watner, Wendy McElroy, January 1, 2001 Individualist Feminism of the Nineteenth Century: Collected Writings and Biographical Profiles, January 1, 2001 Queen Silver : The Godless Girl (Women's Studies (Amherst, N.Y.) by Wendy McElroy, Queen Selections Silver, December 1, 1999 Freedom, Feminism, and the State by Wendy McElroy, Lewis Perry, February 1, 1999 The Reasonable Woman: A Guide to Intellectual Survival, April 1, 1998 XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography by Wendy McElroy, Prelude Pr, 1995, ISBN 0-312-13626-9 Liberty, 1881-1908: A Comprehensive Index, January 1982 References^ You Are What You Read? ^ Sexual Harassment Policies Need Reform by Wendy McElroy ^ a b Capitalism Versus the Free Market ^ ifeminists.com: News ^ McElroy, Wendy. Rothbard as System-Builder: A Tribute. Liberty Magazine. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_McElroy
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Feb 2, 2009 10:17:51 GMT -5
Hmm.... Ms. McElroy's background doesn't quite correspond to some of the remarks made here about her. It looks as though ole Wendy might just have a bit more on the ball than some here gave her credit for. Imagine that.
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Feb 2, 2009 10:21:06 GMT -5
Ms. McElroy's background doesn't quite correspond to some of the remarks made here about her. It looks as though ole Wendy might just have a bit more on the ball than some here gave her credit for. Imagine that.
For example?
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Feb 2, 2009 11:16:13 GMT -5
No example. Imagine that.
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Post by Rob on Feb 9, 2009 12:39:11 GMT -5
Check this out, Brian: Users of Rx drugs tracked in Arizona by Ginger Rough - Feb. 9, 2009 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic Have you taken the painkillers OxyContin or Vicodin in the past 10 months? How about the sleep aid Ambien or the stimulant Ritalin? If you have and you obtained the drug legally, your prescription information is likely being stored in a centralized, state-managed database that can be accessed by doctors and pharmacists around Arizona. The program, which debuted in December and is overseen by the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy, is designed to cut down on the persistent problem of prescription-drug abuse. But it also has raised concerns among privacy-rights groups that fear computer hackers or unscrupulous health workers will access patients' personal information. State health officials who pushed for the program say they know of no breach of any similar database in another state. The system, they say, allows physicians and pharmacists to more easily identify "doctor shoppers," people who visit various doctors to obtain drugs that are potentially addictive. Doctors and pharmacists who learn of a patient's overuse through the system can stop providing him or her the drug, alert other doctors and pharmacists treating the patient, counsel the patient or even contact law-enforcement agencies. "I am so excited that we are finally getting this for our state," said Dr. Stephen Borowsky, an anesthesiologist and pain-management specialist. "It's absolutely necessary. . . . These medicines have such great potential for addiction." The first prescription-monitoring database in the country was set up 13 years ago in Nevada. Now, more than 30 states have authorized or created such lists after deciding that the potential benefits outweigh privacy concerns. How program works The Controlled Substance Prescription Monitoring program still is in its infancy, but its database already contains more than 6.5 million prescriptions dating back to April 1, 2008. Here's how it works: When any Arizona pharmacy or doctor who dispenses medication fills an order for a drug listed on Schedules II, III or IV of the federal Controlled Substances Act, the details are forwarded to the outside contractor that maintains the database and are entered within a week or two. The data include the patient's name, date of birth, prescribing doctor, medication, the date the prescription was filled and the mailing addresses of the pharmacy and patient. The drugs on the lists include potentially addictive painkillers, sleep aids, medications that contain morphine or certain forms of codeine, and hormone drugs, including steroids. Accessing the database Doctors and pharmacists must register to access the database. They then can type in the name of a patient requesting a medication to see whether the person had other similar prescriptions filled and when. An automatic notice about a patient's drug use will be sent to the Pharmacy Board when a patient requests or fills at least seven prescriptions for the listed drugs from seven different doctors or pharmacies within a month. The board is obligated to notify doctors and pharmacies about potential abuse but typically will not take action against the prescriber or patient. The board does not have to notify law- enforcement officials. Borowsky said he recently used the database to check on a patient seeking medication and discovered that the individual had visited 23 doctors and 18 pharmacies seeking controlled painkillers over the past eight months. Borowsky is in the process of calling those practitioners to alert them. To date, more than 200 physicians and 50 pharmacists have been granted access to the database. "More (requests) are coming in every day," said pharmacist Dean Wright, who is responsible for the program's implementation. "We think that number will continue to grow." Drug-abuse problem Health agencies and lawmakers who support such programs say they help fight the problem of prescription-drug abuse in the United States. In a 2007 survey, 7 million Americans age 12 and older reported using prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, for non-medical needs during the previous month, the federal Health and Human Services Department reported. In Arizona, much of the attention has focused on young people. Drug-related deaths among children and teenagers jumped 41 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to a state Department of Health Services report released in January. The Arizona Substance Abuse Partnership, established by the Governor's Office in 2007, has targeted prescription-drug abuse as an area of strategic focus for the coming year. Privacy concerns Privacy-rights advocates are skeptical of states' arguments that the greater public bene- fit outweighs the privacy risks. "There is a noble goal there, to stop the abuse of narcotic drugs," said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "But obviously, any database is subject to breach." For the most part, there has been little public outcry over the programs, Stephens said. "They really haven't gotten much publicity," he said. More insurers are keeping prescription-history databases that members can access on the Web. But with the Arizona system, Pharmacy Board officials say, access to the database is recorded and limited to pharmacists and doctors. Patients can ask to see their files by submitting a written, notarized request. Insurance and drug companies are barred from accessing patients' data kept by the Pharmacy Board. The board is allowed to provide data only to public or private entities for statistical research or educational purposes after removing information that potentially identifies patients. Misuse of the database is considered a Class 6 felony. Plan called overdue Debbie Divello, a Prescott Valley mother, thinks the database is long overdue. She believes it could have helped save her son's life if it had been in place a few years ago. Shaun was prescribed the painkiller methadone after a 2004 motorbike accident and became addicted to the drug. He repeatedly obtained prescriptions at area pain clinics and urgent-care centers and filled them at different pharmacies, she said. He died of an overdose in 2006. "If they had something like this, they could have typed his name or his Social Security number or whatever in and seen what he was doing," Divello said. "But all the pharmacy had was what was in front of them for their store." Reach the reporter at ginger.rough@arizonarepublic.com. www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/09/20090209pharmacydrugs0209.html?source=nletter-news
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Post by wayneinfl on Feb 9, 2009 13:58:52 GMT -5
"If they had something like this, they could have typed his name or his Social Security number or whatever in and seen what he was doing," Divello said. "But all the pharmacy had was what was in front of them for their store."
Didn't she see what was going on?
Anyway, I don't have a problem with a system like this as long as doctors and pharmacies have access to it. I don't like the idea of a government run database having these records in case they decide at some point that the information will be useful for some other reason.
Once the information is stored and held by the government the only thing it takes for this power to be abused is one train wreck, murder or terrorist attack to hit the media. Information in prescriptions could be used in a discriminatory practice to screen government employees, firearms buyers, airline travelers, etc.
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oskar
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Post by oskar on Feb 9, 2009 14:14:54 GMT -5
And then the paranoia kicks in:
Information in prescriptions could be used in a discriminatory practice to screen government employees, firearms buyers, airline travelers, etc.
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