Doctors: hackers threat to computerised medical files

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=161097&thesection=technology&thesubsection=general

23.11.2000
By FRANCESCA MOLD
health reporter

Doctors are worried that the trend towards storing patients' records
online makes them vulnerable to computer hackers.

At a Business Information in Action conference in Wellington
yesterday, Medical Council president Dr Tony Baird expressed concern
about the risk of breaching patient confidentiality by using the
internet and e-mail to communicate or store records.

He said it was impossible to guarantee that information stored
electronically would be secure.

Doctors at the conference said they and their colleagues were worried
about records being "electronically floated around."

"There is a lot of angst out there," said one.

Some doctors send patient referrals to colleagues via e-mail, and
hospitals are introducing programmes designed to store medical
records, laboratory tests and x-rays online.

The information can be accessed by staff throughout the hospital using
passwords.

But hospital managers at the conference said paper records could also
be looked at by unauthorised people, and computers at least allowed
managers to track or audit who had got access to the system.

Dr Baird yesterday outlined a series of concerns the Medical Council
had about telemedicine, including the inability to control rogue
practitioners who treated patients via e-mail.

He was concerned at the lack of personal contact doctors had with
patients when they treated patients through e-mail, and the fact that
in many instances drugs were being prescribed in situations where a
physical examination should have been done first.

"In this situation the patient could be at risk. It is also possible
information may have been falsified and doctors have no way of knowing
exactly who has sent the message [e-mail]."

In Australia, there had been cases of teenagers buying anti-epileptic
and Alzheimer's drugs over the internet because they thought the drugs
would make them more intelligent.

Dr Baird pointed out that New Zealand doctors giving advice to
overseas patients could be subject to civil litigation laws in the
patients' home countries if an error was made.

He also questioned the quality of some of the medical information
available on the internet, saying it was often difficult for people to
judge its accuracy.

Cases had arisen of patients choosing to follow medical advice from
the net instead of that provided by their doctor. "To only get
information from the internet is not a good thing. The Medical Council
has no desire to restrict the use of the internet when it is helpful,
but we have concerns about the way it is being used at times."


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