Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 12/15/2005 9:24:52 PM PST by Marie
NEW YORK (AP) - Hoping to save hundreds of lives, health officials made a regulatory change Wednesday that will allow the city to track thousands of people with diabetes and occasionally prod them to take better care of themselves.
In doing so, New York will become the first American city to monitor diabetes in the same way health departments now commonly track people with HIV or tuberculosis.
It will also be treading new ground, and potentially raising some privacy concerns, by collecting information about people who have a chronic disease that isn't contagious or caused by an environmental toxin.
The city's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, said the program's potential to save thousands of lives outweighs what it gives up in medical privacy.
Under a revised city code, most medical laboratories will be required to electronically forward the results of thousands of blood-sugar tests to the city's health department, which will then identify people having trouble controlling their diabetes.
They're already doing that - the committees of bioethicists and doctorsevaluate people who have little hope of recovery and then release them.
March 8, 2005, 12:33AM
Hospitals can end life support
Decision hinges on patient's ability to pay, and the prognosis of the doctor.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3073295.html
Dr. David Pate's comments came as the family of Spiro Nikolouzos fights to keep St. Luke's from turning off the ventilator and artificial feedings keeping the 68-year-old grandfather alive.
The English Patient
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&program=CSC%20-%20Views%20and%20News&id=2593
In another Houston case, one with ironic echoes of Terri Schiavo, the wife of Spiro Nikolouzos wants tube-feeding for her persistently unconscious husband, based on his previously stated desire to live.
But unlike Schiavo's, Nikolouzos's personal wishes are not deemed determinative: A hospital ethics committee voted to refuse to continue his tube-supplied food and water and ventilator support. He would have died, but a San Antonio hospital unexpectedly agreed to provide the care. Then its ethics committee also decided to cut off care, but Nikolouzos was transferred to a nursing home.
For the moment, Nikolouzos is being allowed to stay alive. But the final decision about the matter isn't his wife's: Under futilitarian Texas law, it belongs to committees of bioethicists and doctors.
You are just scratching the surface with this
Doubleplusungood...
For those who don't understand POST # 20 maybe this will help a little:
U.S. Class 424/78.04
Patent Number 5948402
Issue Date 1999 09 07
Assignee Genetics Institute, Inc. Inventor(s) Keith, James Schendel, Paul Title
Method of using IL-11 for treating antibiotic induced diarrhea (Clostridium difficile)
Abstract Provided by the present invention are methods of treating a variety of disorders including AIDS, arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, spondyloarthropathies), antibiotic induced diarrheal diseases (Clostridium difficile), multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, gingivitis, peptic ulcer disease, esophagitis, diabetes, retinitis, uveitis, reperfusion injury after myocardial infarction (MI) or cerebral vascular accident (CVA), aphthous ulcers (oral), atherosclerosis (plaque rupture), prevention of tumor metastases, asthma, preeclampsia, and allergic disorders such as rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and urticaria.
Exmp. Claim 1
Ex Claim text A method of treating an antibiotic induced diarrheal disease, comprising administering a pharmaceutically effective amount of IL-11.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
What lunacy. I wonder how many people fail to get professional medical care because they don't want their information in systems like this? It's an absolute fact that when there are potential government consequences to getting medical care, some people would rather try to get better on their own than face those consequences.
You can probably count on one hand the number of nano seconds it will take for there to be a class act lawsuit for medical privacy rights infringement. This will indeed end up in a court case and could very easily end up going to the Supremes. Will be interesting to track this.
Did you see this?
New State Slogan:
New York - The Nanny State
Have you taken your pills today?
Bingo!and with employers now requiring employees to stop smoking,even on their own personal time,I wonder how long it will take for these same employers to start passing restrictions on diebetics?All in the name of saving money on healthcare,which will turn into federally provided healthcare because employers will no longer offer it(healthcare) as an incentive to work for them.
Don't you think the real issue behind the government and health care is the morality rate? Without health care down goes life span and what would that look like to the world. EVERYTHING IS ABOUT POLITICS--even living and dying.
Someone's nephew needed a job.
That was my first thought also. HIPAA is Orwellian in its proclamation of protection of privacy when actually sharing information seemed to be its main objective.
For instance, a random Google search comes with up with Patient's Rights and the Required Standardization (Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of all Medical Forms and Standardization & HIPAA.
The former page is quite interesting; here are the first few in its collection of press releases on HIPAA:
Patient's Rights and the Required Standardization (Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of all Medical Forms
(11/12/05)- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded contracts to 4 consortiums as part of a pilot project that would enable computer technology to help expedite health care record keeping and information. The contracts totaled $18.6 million, which is expected to be only a small fraction of what the 4 groups will invest in their regions. The systems that they build will cover 12 different regions throughout the country.
The four consortiums that won out on these contracts had to beat out a total of 70 corporate groups that bid on this matter. The four winning groups are: Accenture; Computer Sciences Corporation; I.B.M.; and Northrup Grumman. The object of these systems will be to link doctor's offices, clinics and hospitals in computer networks using open data standards so that the different medical professionals could easily exchange medical information
The details of how to achieve the objectives are being left to the companies without interference from the federal government. "This is a hands-off government approach," said Dr. David J.Brailer, who is the coordinator for health information technology in the government.
The companies will create personal digital health records and provide physicians with affordable online access to patient records, diagnostic information and billing. These same electronic networks will also be used to monitor and respond to health emergencies such as epidemics or bio-terrorist attacks.
Each of the four groups has three regions in which it must develop local health networks over the next year. Please keep in mind that patient privacy laws must be adhered to also. The 12 regions in this pilot project include both urban and rural areas.
(10/25/05)- The CMS announced that as of October 1. 2005 it will no longer process any electronic fee-for-service Medicare claim that does not meet standards set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.
IBM became the first major U.S. corporation to start a program that would enable all its 180,000 employees in this country to store all their health information in electronic form. The company's employees initially will be able to input their health information into a Web-based system that will track things like prescription drugs and chronic medical conditions.
Next year, IBM will automatically add insurance-claims information and data about prescriptions filled. In the future the company expects to add test results and medical images such as MRI scans. The company said that it would adhere to all medical privacy regulations, and not sell the information even for those interested in doing statistical health studies about the company's employees.
(7/31/05)- Medicare officials recently announced that they would give, free of charge, software to doctors that would enable them to computerize their offices. The program will begin in August, and the software is a version of a well-proven electronic health record system, called Vista. VA doctors and hospitals have used this system for over two decades
Medicare will also provide a list of companies that have been trained to install and maintain the system. Vista is a system that is particularly difficult to install, but Medicare officials claim that this will not be true for the latest generation of the system. Vista is now in use in over 1,300 Veterans Administration inpatient and outpatient facilities, which maintain more than 10 million records and treat more than 5 million veterans or their families a year.
(6/13/05)- A new ruling handed down by the Justice Department sharply limits the government's ability to criminally prosecute individuals for violations of HIPAA. The ruling, that was signed by Steven G. Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the office of legal counsel.
The ruling stated that people who work for an entity covered by the act are not automatically covered by that law and therefore may not be subject to its criminal penalties, which include a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison for the most serious violations. The opinion comes from the office of legal counsel to the Justice Department and is binding on the executive branch of the government, but not on judges.
"The city's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, said the program's potential to save thousands of lives outweighs what it gives up in medical privacy."
No it doesn't.
all Hippa did was make it easier and legal for businesses and insurance companies to pass your health info around yet just try having your mother call in to the hospital to see how one of her adult children is doing.....
They've got too much money...if they are going add a program like this. It'd be far better to monitor kids 6-18 years old, and provide free dental care for those who can't afford it. This program does nothing to help society...the guys with diabetes know their situation and either take care of themselves or don't. The amusing thing is that your data with the doctor or hospital is private...and unless you agree to release it or the state mandates a part to be released (which they won't do)...then this is all a bogus program. Hmmmm....sounds like they already know that and are simply hiring on some medical management nimwits and some computer geeks to run a city-sponsored program...big bucks for doing nothing. Maybe some city councilmen's daughter needs a new job and they baked this one for her.
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