Patient’s rights are a growing concern for both patients and health care organizations. The rights of patients for the confidentiality of information about the fact of turning for the medical help and other information, which is given to the medical care organization, is secured by the law of the country. Any patient has the right to demand from the medical care organization to keep the information in the security. Different opinions exist about the security and confidence of the information of elderly people about their health condition as this information may be helpful to the drug companies and other research organizations which deal with the development and invention of drugs.
Security of information sharing in the world of communication and information delivery technologies is rather difficult to achieve as Internet is the world net, which gives the access to most of information that gives the reason for protecting the health care data properly (Garrett, Baillie & Garrett, 2001), as, first of all, people do not really want to share the information about their diseases with the whole world, as it may lead to “distress, discrimination, stigmatization and even penalties in term of insurance and employment” (Ashcroft & McMillan, 2007 p. 328). The data in the health care organizations is usually kept in the computer base, and the organization should care properly about the security of this information.
Considering the elderly population, people who are under 65 years old, the situations frequently appear when there is the impossibility to plan the cure without sharing the information with other professionals and discussing the cure process. The poor communication between the professionals of different spheres and lack of information may lead to the serious adverse effect (Rai, 2009, p. 57). The age group of elderly people is taken as the example not by chance, as the rate of different diseases in such age is higher. Elderly people usually have not one or two problems, but he whole body system is under the risk and the consultations of other specialists is necessary to provide the patient with the correct diagnosis and properly constructed treatment.
The investigations in the field show that some elderly people willingly wish information about their treatment could be shared “between agencies and resent having to repeat the same information to several professional” (Rai, 2009, p. 55). The share of whole scope of information between professionals of different sphere is the only way to avoid lots of problems to elderly people, such as visiting great deal of different specialists, repeating the same situation all the time and be able to explain what the doctor will do in several minutes. The rates of people, who want their information be shared and introduced to the common access, are not so much that is why the government has implemented the laws, which protect people’s right for confidentiality of their information.
Data Protection Act 1998, Human Rights Act 1998 (Article 8), Common law, NHS care record guarantee and internal policies of employing organizations are some of the relevant areas of law, which deal with the information sharing. These laws give people the right either to have the confident information, to give the access to the disease and treatment information to the restricted number of people or give the worldwide access (Rai, 2009, p. 56). As it was mentioned above, the existence of the Internet offers additional opportunities with additional problems. The transmission of the data to the electronic archives demanded the security system creation and the standards development for the electronic database collection.
The personal information on the web has to be confidential, and according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), what the federal law is, information should be protected perfectly. The background of the Act was the computerization of the medical sphere, where computers were not so widespread before. The Act establishes the “standards for the privacy and security of health information, as well as standards for electronic data interchange of health information” (Privacy/Data protection project, 2005, par. 1).
The Act introduces the standards, according to which information may be transmitted from one computer into the other. The Act also provides the standards for identifiers for health plans and providers privacy standards and information system security standards (Privacy/Data protection project, 2005). It should be underlined, that mentioned Act deals only with the electronic information and its delivery.
Analyzing the Internet deliver of information between the doctor and patient in the modern computerized world, it may be concluded that patients will support such communication in the case of them guarantee the security. Dwelling upon the Internet delivery of information between doctor and patient, it can be mentioned that “with the fundamental restructuring of the US health care delivery system, there has been a parallel in the collection and use of patient-related data” (Carter, p. 298).
Patients will willingly communicate with their doctors through the Internet when special programs will be utilized with administration and admission functions. The accessible activities should also include the data from the laboratory, dietary, social services, pharmacy, respiratory therapy and physical therapy departments, in the cases when the patient dealt with the named activities (Carter, p. 298).
The problem with the drug produce organizations and their access to the information is crucial, as such organizations may need the health information with the aim to inform the patient about the new treatment techniques and drugs in advance. The National Research Council, being informed about the information access, has introduced the list of typical users of the health care information, who should have the access to it and use it only in the specific sphere of industry. The list includes, in spite of direct users of this information, Health Insurance Company, pharmacy benefits manager, state bureau of vital statistics, accrediting organizations, medical researcher, state agency collecting hospital discharge data, attorney, Life Insurance Company and employer (Carter, p. 300).
The Internet delivery of information and communication with doctor may occur if this information is secured and the patient is guaranteed the confidence. Relying on this the only recommendation may be provided to insure people that the information which is going to be delivered through the Internet is secured. In the cases when the person wants to give the access to other organizations to the personal health information, the patient should be assured that this information is going to be used in the health care researches only.
In conclusion, different opinions exist about the security and confidence of the information of elderly people about their health condition as this information may be helpful to the drug companies and other research organizations which deal with the development and invention of drugs. Most of elderly people agree that the information can be accessible to a number of people who, according to their sphere of activities may use the information with the aim to improve the current health care system, or in the cases when the hidden health condition of the patient may lead to irreversible problems in future (professional mismatch in connection with health problems).
References
Ashcroft, R. E. & McMillan, J. (2007). Principles of Health Care Ethics. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Carter, J. H. (2008). Electronic health records: a guide for clinicians and administrators. ACP Press, Philadelphia.
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H.W., & Garrett, R.M. (2001). Health care ethics: Principals and problems. Upper Saddler River, Prentice-Hall: New York.
Privacy/Data protection project. (2005). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Web.
Rai, G. (2009). Medical Ethics and the Elderly. Radcliffe Publishing, Oxford.