Patient Confidentiality

I’ve spent a big chunk of my legal career working in the realm of privacy.

Our personal health information is highly sensitive. We know that and yet in this digital era, I see time and again that it’s not treated with the care and respect required of us.

Telemedicine has been so good in terms of easier access to care, and yet it’s important to recognize its pitfalls as that relates to patient privacy - the use of emails, texts; virtual group care; social forums…

I could talk at length about each of these in terms of patient confidentiality.

The question that always needs to be asked - was informed consent provided for the use of all of these virtual mediums? Were the risks related to disclosure outlined in a comprehensive manner? Moreover, what about compliance with jurisdictional privacy laws? 🤔

Practitioners - is this something that you’ve appropriately addressed in your practice? Click here to access my legal templates or email info.