By Jay Desai
Widespread use of internet and social media has raised privacy concerns in recent years. This is a grave matter especially when it comes to healthcare providers and patient information, especially when these media become an advertising tool. If you are on Facebook, you may have already guessed where this is leading. Pictures of ‘heroic’ surgeries may have shown up on your News Feed. Often, ‘fascinating’ cases may have been discussed, sometimes ending with a ‘winner’ taking home the ‘bragging rights’. There are many other ways in which patient information may be inadvertently leaked and become available to the whole world.
Healthcare privacy regulations are increasingly being enforced strictly in many countries around the world. Most such regulations ensure that healthcare providers do not talk about their patients in public places; and that they do not disclose medical information to anyone other than the closest relative, unless needed- and that too after a written consent is obtained. These laws regulate the exchange of medical records between healthcare providers and with paramedical agencies. They also control the way medical research is performed and documented.
There are drawbacks to patient privacy laws which could adversely affect the cost and the efficiency of healthcare delivery. India would also be better off by not blindly following the philosophy of strict policing that is prevalent in many western countries. A balanced law will prevent naked parading of patients on social media websites. It will protect the identity of victims of rape and assault. It will keep patients’ psychiatric infirmity secret and their sexual orientations private. It will curb careless and unnecessary disclosure of all patient information.
Patients are vulnerable when they enter a doctor’s office, as they share the most intimate details of their lives. Let us make sure that this relationship remains private and sacred. The Hippocratic Oath from the 5th century BC reads, “All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or outside of my practice or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spoken abroad, I will keep secret and never reveal.” Regulations become necessary with widespread amnesia to this moral obligation. (The author is a practicing neurologist in the US)