At 4:27 PM 9/25/96, Asgaard wrote:
On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
Why can't patients carry their _own_ medical records, and disclose what they wish to disclose to doctors and hospitals, as they see fit? Whether implemented in a high-tech version, as a "smart card," or a low-tech version, as a "dossier" (a file folder), the principle's the same.
One problem is when a patient is suing his doctor, but claiming that his 'dossier' was lost in a fire. The doctor then has to defend himself with only 'your word against mine' instead of having his own account of what was happening on file, including test results etc that could be very interesting for the defence.
Well, this is a potentially confusing hypothetical, and a short paragraph description doesn't do it justice. - did not the patient have backups? if not, why not? - the doctor will have records of what _he_ did, and records of _what was disclosed to him_ by the patient. This should be enough, as his "end" has done exactly what was agreed to. (Indeed, the unrevealed parts of the dossier are not known to him, but then they were "unrevealed," which is the whole point. That the "unrevealed" parts were lost or destroyed in a head crash, or whatever, is not germane at all.) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."