The Pros And Cons Of Privacy

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There are numerous ethical controversies in healthcare informatics and privacy is certainly one of these. Privacy refers to the right of individuals to limit access to their personal health data by others; the sensitivity of personal health information, which includes demographics, health conditions, and individually identifiable health information, raises ethical concerns (Harman, Flite, & Bond, 2012). With the advent of the electronic health record (EHR) and a growing dependence on computers, protection of an individual’s privacy is a large challenge we are facing. EHRs also allow for a large amount of raw data to be collected for use in groundbreaking biomedical and public health research (Mercuri, 2010). Such research has the ability…show more content…
Privacy has long been a concern in the healthcare industry and refers to the right of individuals to limit access by others to aspects of their person and addresses the question of who has access to personal information and under what conditions (Institute of Medicine, 2009). The Institute of Medicine (2009) states that “privacy is concerned with the collection, storage, and use of personal information, and examines whether data can be collected in the first place, as well as the justifications, if any, under which data collected for one purpose can be used for another (secondary)…show more content…
Privacy is as important in the realm of healthcare informatics as it is a primary concern of EHRs. Privacy might conflict with the beneficence of an integrated EHR system; EHRs allow for the compilation of data and registries and for the ability to de-identify information for use in advancing clinical research and public health (Mercuri, 2010). It is the role of those in healthcare informatics to be sure that rules and regulations regarding privacy are being followed, to safeguard patient information, and to ensure that privacy concerns are addressed so that health information technology can progress. Goodman (2015) states that balancing privacy and the benefits of using others’ health information is one of the most interesting and difficult problems facing the digital health

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