health privacy

Google is looking to artificial intelligence as a way to make a mark in health care.

Health & Safety

Google Searches For Ways To Put Artificial Intelligence To Use In Health Care

11:19pm April 22, 2019

by Richard Harris

The search giant's push into artificial intelligence as a tool for health improvement is a natural evolution for a company that has developed algorithms that reach deep into our lives through the Web.

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It's one thing to track your heart rate, pulse or other movements with a smart watch or other consumer electronics, researchers say, but quite another to rely on the device to diagnose a disease.

Like It Or Not, Personal Health Technology Is Getting Smarter

5:52am March 05, 2018

by Angus Chen

Tech evangelists say consumer electronics that sense, stream and interpret vital signs will lead to better health and lower costs. But skeptics say reliability and privacy issues still loom.

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Ronda Goldfein, attorney and executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, holds an envelope that revealed a person's HIV status through the clear window.

Aetna Agrees To Pay $17 Million In HIV Privacy Breach

6:18pm January 17, 2018

by Elana Gordon

Health insurer Aetna has reached a settlement with people whose privacy was compromised when their HIV status was visible through the clear address windows on envelopes sent to them.

How Your Health Data Lead A Not-So-Secret Life Online

5:00am July 30, 2016

by Angus Chen

Apps can make managing health care a lot easier, but most don't have the privacy protections required of doctors and hospitals. And a simple Web search can clue in advertisers to health concerns.

Dartmouth College researcher Timothy Pierson holds a prototype of Wanda, which is designed to establish secure wireless connections between devices that generate data.

Health & Safety

Researchers Hope This Invention Could Wave Away Medical Data Hacks

7:48pm May 10, 2016

by Jordan Gass-Pooré

As health care increasingly moves from hospitals and doctors' offices to the home, patient medical data become more vulnerable to hackers. Dartmouth College researchers hope their product will help.

VA addiction therapist Brandon Coleman, now on administrative leave, testified about widespread problems with privacy breaches before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs in September.

Privacy Violations Rising At Veterans Affairs Medical Facilities

9:37am December 30, 2015

Deceased veterans' documents were sent to the wrong widows. VA workers snooped on patients who had committed suicide. And whistleblowers contend the VA violated their medical privacy.

A CVS store on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, N.Y.

Repeat Violators Of Health Privacy Laws Often Go Unpunished

3:35pm December 29, 2015

Regulators have logged dozens, even hundreds of complaints against some health providers for violating federal patient privacy law. Warnings are doled out privately, and sanctions are rarely imposed.

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The Medical Board of California accused Peter Brabeck's doctor in 2011 of overprescribing him controlled substances. Afterward, Brabeck, who lives near Carmel, Calif., learned the doctor had hired a private investigator and gave him Brabeck's medical reco

Health & Safety

Small Violations Of Medical Privacy Can Hurt Patients And Erode Trust

5:07pm December 10, 2015

by Charles Ornstein

Breaches that expose the health details of just a patient or two are proliferating nationwide. Regulators focus on larger privacy breaches and rarely take action on small ones, despite their harm.

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Nadya Suleman was dubbed "Octomom" after the birth of her octuplets.

Celebrities' Medical Records Tempt Hospital Workers To Snoop

4:13pm December 10, 2015

by Charles Ornstein

When well-known performers receive health care, the details of their cases can leak. Electronic medical records make peeking easier — and also make it easier to catch the staffers who looked.

Patients of the Minnesota-based St. Cloud Medical Group can follow a public page on Facebook.

Health & Safety

Why Your Doctor Won't Friend You On Facebook

2:45pm August 26, 2015

by Shefali Luthra

Public professional Facebook pages focused on medicine are catching on. But doctors aren't ready to share vacation photos and other more intimate details with their patients.