Who Owns Your Health Data?

porsche911 writes "The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about how the data from Implanted health devices is managed and the limitations patients run into when they want to see the data. Companies like Medtronic plan to sell the data but won't provide it to the person who generated it. From the article: 'The U.S. has strict privacy laws guaranteeing people access to traditional health files. But implants and other new technologies—including smartphone apps and over-the-counter monitors—are testing the very definition of medical records.'"

Comments

If a Medical Doctor was involved in the collection

[WillAdams]

it's a medical record, entitled to the appropriate legal protections and the property of the person to whom it refers.

End of discussion.

Re:If a Medical Doctor was involved in the collect

[Bill_the_Engineer]

I'm more concerned about a third-party selling my data. All medical information should only be between the doctor and the patient. Any intermediaries should have limits that prevent them from sharing the data with anyone other than the patient or the doctor (who is really acting on behalf of the patient). If there is a loophole that allows companies like Medtronic to sell patient data then congress should address this (I can't even type this with a straight face).

I'd thought these limitations are already in place and data from medical devices would be covered like data from labs and radiologists.

Outbreak Early Warning System

[pr0t0]

I wouldn't want my data sold to anyone...ever...period!

However as real-time monitoring devices become more prevalent, more precise, and more capable; I can see a strong argument made for the data being captured and analyzed in aggregate by "trusted sources". The CDC could get an early warning of an outbreak, or it could be found that a disproportionally large number of people in a small town are getting cancer due to poor working conditions in a factory or pollution.

As with any data collection tool, it has as much potential to harm as it does to help...but so does a hammer.