[wyrmhaven]

Ok so here is a question for you all from my dark side :P

So if we start to have this clearing house for all medical records, and a doctor can open up your entire medical history with a click so to speak here is the question once this is in place:

What if you had been in your past diagnosed with some disorder (please resist the temptation to play a rousing game of "Guess the Disorder" this is supposed to be hypothetical remember?), and they medicated you for that disorder but all it did was make stuff worse and the doctors refused to change their tactics etc. So you stop the meds on your own, and just decide to deal with it.

Years later you decide that life has thrown too much at you to cope and you risk seeking help again. Now at their disposal is this history that just stops for this previous treatment. Of course the doctor can ask about it and poke around about it, etc. but the problem is that this person is already exposed to this and you need to start fresh.
Now the doctor can’t erase their memory of this no matter how much you need them to forget it and is pre-disposed to the prior diagnosis.
I know from experience that mentioning past treatments are a mistake, a HUGE one.
So are we still for the so called cost savings of medical records stored electronically???

[Slothrop]

All I can say is I work with databases and I see how "professionals" handle confidential personal data, and there is SO much risk there. I just don't trust "the system" enough to secure a monolithic data store with my medical info, in part for the reasons you mention.

The current system has its own risks...for example, small seat-of-the-pants companies get into the business of managing info for doctors' offices and do some really dumb things with the data because they don't know what they're doing.

But honestly, I feel better with the current fragmented and slipshod system than knowing that my entire dossier is in one fat database somewhere. All it takes is one disgruntled worker, one screwup in the security procedures, one botched employee background check that lets a bad apple in...

Sorry, off the soapbox now.