-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Privacy advocates endanger lives Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:53:52 -0400 From: Richard M. Smith <rms@private> To: 'Declan McCullagh' <declan@private>, <rms@private> Hi Declan, The attached letter to the Boston Globe provides an interesting viewpoint on VeriChip. Nothing prevents Ms. Southwell's mother from being chipped today if she wants to. However, it is unlikely that her medical records will be online anytime soon. If down the road we have universal online medical records, it is far from clear if the VeriChip technology has the proper security measures for protecting medical records. Richard http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2004/10/24/privacy_advocates_endanger_lives?mode=PF Privacy advocates endanger lives October 24, 2004 DOCTORS PERFORMED emergency surgery on my 85-year-old mother recently without having her medical history. She would have benefited from VeriChip, an implantable microchip that gives doctors instant access to a patient's health records. No one will benefit from VeriChip if the privacy advocates who denounced the device's approval have their way. In their paranoid crusade against Big Brother, they feel justified in restricting access to life-saving medical data. Legislation passed through their efforts also prevented me from facilitating the transfer of my mother's medical records from her regular doctor to the emergency room. Privacy advocates may think they're protecting my mother from information misuse in the future. Instead, they endangered her life by restricting access to her health history. They shouldn't have the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of us, especially when it compromises our choices regarding our healthcare. /BARBARA SOUTHWELL Concord / _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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