Medicine and Health

Medicine and Health

Introduction

This paper has been written with regards to the balance that should be created between the information of the patient in order to ensure privacy, and also to consider the medical information of the patients that can be accessed. Today, the technology has progressed greatly, and this is the reason why the use of electronic medical record application has increased. In the previous years, paperwork was more common and files of the patients were maintained. However, since the technology has improved, the records of the patients are maintained in the computer systems and information can also be accessed by the patients themselves through the Internet.

Discussion

In America and the rest of the world that uses internet regularly the emerging issue or the problem is that of identity theft. It is considered to be the fastest growing crime in America as millions of victims have been reported over a period of the last couple of years. Identity theft is a crime when any individual uses personal information that includes the credit card or their social security number without the permission of the concerned person to commit fraud or other crimes typically for economic gain. Identity theft can happen to anyone when an opportunity arises, and thieves are not very particular to one's age. This issue is also pertaining when the medical information of the patient is saved electronically (Ramamoorti & Weidenmeir, 2006).

Unlike our fingerprints, which are unique to each one of us and should not be given to any other person for usage, and this include credit card number, our telephone calling card number, driver's license, PIN numbers, debit card numbers as well as the other data that can be misused by people such as those criminals who steal identities the consequences could be very severe and ...