When Privacy Becomes a Commodity

Patients’ medical records are private documents that should not be accessed without proper authorization. Many hospitals and other similar establishments in the past have taken for granted this side of medical ethics. Privacy rights of patients were intentionally dishonored. Most of the persons behind were hospital employees themselves.

Most records that are likely to invite unauthorized access are those of high-status individuals. Celebrities and politicians top the list because they make “gossip”. However, privacy violation does not distinguish social, political, or economic standing of the victims. The point is, whether the patient is popular or otherwise, his privacy rights are violated.

In response to the need for stricter security of these documents, many hospitals have implemented policies against patients’ privacy violators. Some hospitals call their system as “zero tolerance policy”. This means that any hospital employee caught violating this policy is automatically terminated.

The current January 8 killing incident outside an area mall in Tucson killed six people and wounded 13 others. Some of the victims including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford were brought at Tucson’s University Medical Center. Three hospital employees were caught improperly accessing some of the patients’ medical records for whatever reasons. With the hospital’s standing zero tolerance policy, all three were terminated, plus a nurse under contractual status.

This event and many others that went unreported are clear evidences of people who breach patient’s privacy. Thanks to modern IT, hospitals have a better way of protecting the security of these records. There is no need anymore of overseeing these documents by hand. This is done routinely using computer software that could prevent and detect such unauthorized access.

Patient Privacy Rights Foundation founder and Chairwoman, Deborah Peel, was not surprised. She said that such breaches should be accepted as they are expected. She further commented that hospitals should ensure ironclad security of patients’ records. Without such structure in place, patients’ sensitive personal health data remain open to unauthorized access. These are good sources of big news, but a clear risk to patients’ privacy – and honor.

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