Another Really Bad Idea
Google to Store Patients’ Health Records
Hey, how about this? How about we individuals take a wee bit accountability for our own health and maintain our own health records? Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get a little bit better healthcare when we trust ourselves instead of “the system.” It’s not hard. Every time you visit your doctor or get a test done, ask for a copy. Scan it at home if you want to keep it digitized. But for dog’s sakes…don’t trust the “system.”
You have to love how the article ends with:
“It’s not clear how Google intends to make money from its health service. The company sometimes introduces new products without ads just to give people more reason to visit its Web site, betting the increased traffic will boost its profits in the long run.”
Would you jump off a high diving board not knowing how much water was below? Come on! Let’s see…hhhhmmm… how could Google make money off of this noble idea to empower people to access their own medical data? Hhmmmm… Here’s a hint: go to your junk mail folder and look at all the SPAM you’re getting for male enhancement, quick weight loss pills and make-me-happy drugs.
And how scary is it that it’s easier for the government to access individual medical records if an individual uses a third party system like Google to transfer medical records? Oy vay. It gives me agida just thinking about it.
Our problems in healthcare do not revolve around getting access to our own medical records. In fact, a system like this will doubtlessly open up more marketing channels for patients seeking a quick fix, asking for specific drugs from their general physician, who is equally pressured to make them better fast, rather than seek the real cause of their health challenges.
Yesterday, on my way to yoga class, I heard part of an interview on KGO from Charles Barber, who wrote Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation
Maybe I’m short sighted. I love technology. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a geek. But I love my privacy and my ability to manage my own healthcare more.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 am
Nice graphic. To me, the idea of storing some data (in this case health information) in the cloud versus locally (on the user’s devices) is a question that is always in a tug-of-war. Personally, I believe the devices and software currently are sufficient for managing your own health information locally on your own computer. That’s what I do. As you suggested: scan, digitize, and organize on my own computer (a simple folder structure will work!) the history. Why? Because it is important to me. Maybe the average person is too busy or couldn’t be concerned with doing this? Don’t know.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
You have very good insight and are always interesting to read. Funny how I missed this part of google news. I just saw the part about wanting to go to the moon. Do they want to take our med records up there? I have 10 years of blood tests. It’s valuable info, and I’m glad that I had the choice to keep it.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
i think once people stop being suckered into thinking
it’s cool and hip to be overworked maybe
then they will take the time to take care
of their lives and stop outsourcing their lives to
others.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Marscat: exactly. People are so overworked, they
prefer to be treated like children. Which is what these
companies are suggesting: “Let us take care of your burdens
of managing your own health. And by the way, we’ll send
you tons of information of little blue or red pills to make you happy, because you’re too busy to actually figure out what’s wrong with you, but give you side effects which
will warrent yellow and pink pills and eventually keep you sick and our business healthy!”