AP is reporting that “the Dutch government will begin tracking every citizen from cradle to grave in a single database, opening a personal electronic dossier for every child at birth with health and family data, and eventually adding school and police records.” The new database will begin Jan. 1, 2007.
I personally believe that this is a necessary and inevitable step in how personal records are managed – for example, given current technology it is simply inexplicable that we do not already have in place, or are not imminently starting, a national cradle-to-grave personal health record system in Canada. We haven’t even begun a public debate. It seems to me that such a system would inevitably improve the efficiency and quality of health care services.
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My first reaction is one of horror. I cannot imagine having that much personal, private information in one location, especially one location where it could be breached, copied, and essentially be in the public domain. Never mind the Big Brother argument.
It is one thing to keep a centralized paper record of everyone, but a completely different thing to do so electronically.
It seems to be commonly accepted that there is a need for instant access to medical records, but I wonder if there have been any studies that put a figure on the number of people adversely affected by the current method and would be helped by an instantly available record system. From what I know, it seems to be only anecdotal and mostly hypothetical evidence.