Patient Privacy Rights and Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Host Event
Psychiatry Patient’s Story Highlights Growing Threat to Privacy
Washington, DC — June 4, 2012 – “When a lawyer named ‘Julie’ sought psychiatric treatment in Boston, she never imagined that the notes of sessions with her therapist would be digitized and made available to thousands of doctors and nurses, even dermatologists and podiatrists with no conceivable need for such private records. But that is precisely what happened. ‘Personal details that took me years to disclose during therapy are being shared throughout my medical network, against my will,’ Julie says. ‘It’s destroyed my trust with my doctors.’”
Julie will tell her story for the first time at the 2nd International Summit on the Future of Health Privacy, to be held in Washington, DC, on June 6-7.
Sponsored by Patient Privacy Rights, the nation’s leading health privacy watchdog, and Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, the Summit will explore the often-alarming privacy implications of the nation*s race to digitize patient medical records.
“Every state requires patient permission before sensitive mental health records can be shared with other doctors. But Julie found that hundreds of pages of intimate records, some detailing her abuse as a child, were open to the entire staff of her Boston-based healthcare system,” says Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of Patient Privacy Rights. “Julie is an example of how major electronic health records systems can actually strip patients of their privacy rights. Her tragic story highlights the need for the Privacy Summit to shine light on these abuses and find solutions to protect patient privacy.”
40 Health-Privacy Experts Drive Debate:
More than 40 health-privacy experts from around the globe will gather for the Summit, including top U.S. government officials and leading CEOs, physicians and academics, along with several hundred live and virtual attendees. Speakers will discuss new policies including a Health Privacy Bill of Rights, data exchanges, secondary uses of health data and social media platforms that threaten patient privacy. In addition, the founder of Harvard’s Data Privacy Lab will announce the launch of a yearlong project, the first of its kind, to map the hundreds of secret organizations and agencies where private medical data is sold and shared in the United States.
Summit organizers also will announce “The Best Privacy Technologies of 2012,” and companies will demonstrate new products that enhance patient control of personal health data.
Louis D. Brandeis Privacy Award:
To kick off the Summit, Patient Privacy Rights will honor the first-ever recipients of the Louis D. Brandeis Privacy Award. The privacy watchdog group will recognize Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) for their roles as leading congressional privacy advocates. And Alan Westin, Columbia University’s Emeritus Professor of Public Law and Government, and Ross Anderson, the University of Cambridge’s Professor in Security Engineering, will be honored for their groundbreaking work on consumer data privacy and security.
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WHAT: The 2nd International Summit on the Future of Health Privacy
WHEN: June 6-7th, 2012
WHERE: Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001
REGISTRATION: http://www.healthprivacysummit.org/d/3cq92g/4W
AGENDA: http://www.healthprivacysummit.org/d/3cq92g/6X
SPEAKERS: http://www.healthprivacysummit.org/d/3cq92g/6K
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @PrivacySummit
SPONSORS/PARTNERS: The ACLU, Accenture, The American Psychoanalytic Association, CIPS, CA Technologies, Consumer Action, CSWA, Dell, Dialog for Diversity, Doctor-Patient Medical Association, EFF. org, e-MDs, EPIC.org, FairWarning, The Harvard Data Privacy Lab, IDExperts, Jericho Systems, Just Health, The Liberty Coalition, Microsoft, PwC, RTI International, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), The O’Neill Institute at Georgetown Law Center, The Population Research Center, The University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, and The University of Texas School of Information.
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ABOUT PATIENT PRIVACY RIGHTS: Patient Privacy Rights is the nation’s leading bipartisan health privacy organization and leading consumer voice for building ethical, trustworthy healthcare IT systems. For more information, visit http://patientprivacyrights.org**