Medical privacy

[John Young]

This may be stretching UKCrypto's posting limitation, but
the New York Times reports today on Britons, Norwegians
and others going to other European countries for long-delayed 
medical care and getting it more quickly and cheaply than
at home.

This fast-increasing practice does raise the medical
privacy issue which policy apparently varies from country to
country (as with quality, speed and cost of service). 

The report states that out-of-country medical treatment for 
Britons is being paid for by the British Government under a 
newly instituted program to out-source medical services not 
readily available in Britain. Do those provisions for payments 
include a provision for privacy protection, and, if so, whose
privacy policy prevails? Does RIP apply to medical 
outsourcing since it involves transnational actions likely
to contain information of interest to the authorities -- in
particular cybercrime?

At 10:48 AM 9/1/01 +0100, you wrote:
>David
>You are right that medicine has a lot of ground to recover. Arrogance and
>communications failures are mostly to blame & the regulatory authorities
>must take their share of the fallout. However, it is in all our interests to
>see the profession rebuilt - otherwise the current recruitment & retention
>problems will cause severe problems in the years ahead & you can't tar us
>all with the same brush. A disillusioned & demoralised profession is in
>no-one's best interests. It's easy to criticise - and we probably deserve
>it - but what's needed are people who can be constructively critical & help
>rebuild trust through a new set of relationships based on consent and
>openness. (If only...)
>
>=====
>Dr Alan Hassey (PGP Key ID:0x161BB451)
>Fisher Medical Centre (Research Unit)
>RCGP Health Informatics Standing Group
>alan.hassey@btinternet.com
>=====
>
>
>The problem is that for respect to be earned people have to be respectable.
>I think that the
>medical bunch have already lost respect due to their arrogant and
>patronising attitude. I also
>think that it will be decades, if ever, before they regain this. Instead of
>blaming the public, which
>was the impression given after a number of scandals, they should ponder on
>the reasons people
>don't trust them any more.
>
>There is much good done in medical circles. The problem is the failure to
>deal with those who
>are incompetent and the failure to curb the excesses of the master race
>tendency (which a lot of
>research is concerned with).
>
>
>--
> David Hansen
>