Re: Medical Data

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

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.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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