Privacy of patients’ medical records

Re “Life-or-death data,” editorial, Dec. 11

The Times describes many problems with an employer-driven clinical database of patient healthcare data, but only touches the concerns that physicians share. These include the potential for the data to get into the wrong hands or to be manipulated or misinterpreted.

Medical record keeping is best organized by physicians. Healthcare providers nationwide in health information technology collaboratives have been working to utilize the Internet for the efficient exchange of medical records data. We all hope that such universal access to records will help to eliminate medical errors and expedite care.

Legislators should pass regulations that would allow patients to own their data after being collected by licensed physicians, and allow a physician-run, not-for-profit gatekeeper foundation to supervise how the data are used. No access to a patient’s medical data should be allowed without a patient’s personal consent. California needs a law to protect patients from what could only become an Orwellian future.

RALPH J. DI LIBERO MD

Los Angeles

MARCY ZWELLING-AAMOT MD

Los Alamitos

Di Libero is president of the L.A. County Medical Assn. Zwelling-Aamot is a founding member of Health-E-L.A.

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Computer hackers have just compromised the personal data of 800,000 individuals from UCLA. I fear that no personal information will ever be safe, and UCLA administrators are putting the onus on those individuals whose information has been breached to take care of it themselves by posting fraud alerts with the appropriate companies. One would think that such a prestigious institution would assume that responsibility. UCLA could check with its computer engineering department to see how it could be done efficiently.

Now, please remind me why The Times thinks it’s a good idea to put our computerized medical records out there.

HELEN ARAGON

San Fernando