法律類文章精選：A QUESTION OF PRIVACY
7 A QUESTION OF PRIVACY
Behind the brewing war over protecting patients' records in an age of HMOs and online medicine.
Technology is a two-edged sword. Rarely is this as clear as it is in the realm of health care. Technology allows doctors to test their patients for genetic defects--and then to turn around and spread the results throughout the world via the Internet. For someone in need of treatment, that's good news. But for someone in search of a job or an insurance policy, the tidings can be all bad.
Last week President Bill Clinton proposed a corollary to the patients' bill of rights now before Congress: a right to medical privacy. Beginning in 2002, under rules set to become law in February, patients would be able to stipulate the conditions under which their personal medical data could be divulged. They would be able to examine their records and make corrections. They could learn who else had seen the information. Improper use of records by a caregiver or insurer could result in both civil and criminal penalties. The plan was, said Clinton, "an unprecedented step toward putting Americans back in control of their own medical records."
While the administration billed the rules as an attempt to strike a balance between the needs of consumers and those of the health-care industry, neither doctors nor insurance companies were happy. The doctors said the rules could actually erode privacy, pointing to a provision allowing managed-care plans to use personal information without consent if the purpose was "health-care operations." That, physicians said, was a loophole through which HMOs and other insurers could pry into the doctor-patient relationship, in the name of assessing the quality of care. Meanwhile, the insurers protested that the rules would make them vulnerable to lawsuits. They were especially disturbed by a provision holding them liable for privacy breaches by "busines
【法律類文章：A QUESTION OF PRIVACY】相關文章：
To be,or not to be,that is the question:的翻譯05-02
如何撰寫教育教學類文章04-28
怎樣撰寫“解題指導”類的文章04-30
法律類社會實踐報告12-10
學會用法律保護自己文章12-30
淺談生活情感類文章的技巧指導05-01
自然科學類文章閱讀淺談04-30
介紹我的法律類自學考試經驗04-29
作文 議論類的文章應當以論點為宜04-24