I was watching the news last night and caught this story about the mishandling of medical information. I was interested because privacy issues really interest me in this digital world, and as the story unfolded, I grew increasingly disgusted. Here is what happened:
A nursing home was trying to fax some medical records to a doctor. The records turned up on the fax machine in some woman's house. This "good Samaritan" calls the news to tell them about what happened and she gets an interview on the eleven o'clock news. It turns out that the only difference between the phone number of the intended recipient and this woman is the last digit.
The news story talks about the increase of theft of medical identity and the consequences for the person handling the information - like loosing their job.
So someone may loose their job because they misdialed the phone? The woman who received the fax could take the time to find the news hotline but couldn't take the time to get the name of the sender off the header of the fax and let them know they had the wrong number; or, worst case, look at the caller id on the fax machine and send a fax back letting them know. Shame on you lady.
Shame on the news organization too for running this - I'll use the term loosely -- news. People dial the wrong number all the time, and it isn't news.
4 comments:
I think it is only going to get more complex. We talk about these issues in class all the time. It's an interesting time to be alive.
True, it is only going to get more complex. I think that there are some things that good people do. For example: there have been many times when a doctor's office has left a message on my machine for someone else- they have the results, or need to cancel an appointment or what ever. I always call that office back to let them know they called the wrong number. When I mistakenly get my neighbour's mail, I take it to them, it is just a nice thing to do. I don't call the news or the post office to bitch, it was just a mistake.
I just something similar happen on my cellphone. A woman from an unnamed company left a message about a job supposedly I applied for, and wanted me to drop off my samples that I supposedly told her about and to confirm I've got the position. I knew this wasn't about me, one because I haven't applied for any jobs recently and I very happy in the position where I'm at. The bad part is she left no number or who she was for me to contact them back and let them know they had contacted the wrong person. I hope they realized they contacted the wrong person.
Look at the source...the "news". It is not really the news anymore. It's more like Access Hollywood or some other tabloid show. Did you ever notice that when a former or current Disney employee gets in trouble they make sure they say that they worked for Disney? I don’t ever here them say that the person arrested worked for Joe Blow’s Body Shop or Perkins or any other place of business. Why is this? Because saying the word Disney gets peoples attention. Just like the tabloid in the store says about a baby that is half human and half bat. You know it’s not true but it got your attention.
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