Is New York’s plan to monitor diabetes an invasion of privacy?
Since the day New York decided to monitor diabetes by collecting the results of blood sugar tests from thousands of medical labs and use that data to warn diabetics, there has been arguments for and against the move. Those who are against, feel that the city health department is invading the privacy of its citizens. In this article, Dr.Gerald Bernstein, a past president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), supports the move and says that the program should be a model for the rest of the United States. I agree. Diabetes is spreading at an incredible rate, unless some drastic measures are taken, the situation could easily become unmanageable. Giving the health department access to your test reports is a small price to pay compared to the benefits of the program. Besides, proper care could easily be taken to make sure the confidentiality of the data is maintained. What do you think?
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POSTED IN: Opinion
2 opinions for Is New York’s plan to monitor diabetes an invasion of privacy?
Hsien Lei
Apr 12, 2006 at 4:36 am
This reminds me of the time my OB/GYN called a good friend of mine to get her to talk to me about proper diet during pregnancy. (I was in Japan and they were afraid I couldn’t understand what they were saying.) It infuriated me because I had never given them permission to discuss my medical records with my friend and I felt it was a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.
In this case, people could feel the same. They never gave explicit permission for monitoring by healthcare professionals not directly linked to their care. Sort of Big Brotherish….
Susan
Apr 26, 2006 at 3:00 am
Problem is, you give the government an inch, they take a mile. I hate to be the one playing conspiracy theoriest (wait, no I don’t) but really, you give them the ok to test for diabetes, maybe they’ll throw HIV in. Then genetic issues. And next they’re telling you you aren’t allowed to have a child because you have some genetic defect. I mean, I know that’s extreme. But you let the government start testing your blood, you never know what they’re gonna do next. It would be better, in my opinion, to put the money into an ad campaign encouraging people to get tested for diabetes the same way they campaign for women to yearly pap smears and mammograms after 40, men to get prostate exams, and everyone to get a colonoscopy. Yeah, it takes a while before people start listening, but shouldn’t we take responsibility for finding out if we have diabetes on our own, instead of the government taking the initiative for us? Besides, if people won’t take the responsibility to find out if they have “the beedies,” will they really take the responsibility to make the changes necessary to control it?
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