A second-tier service of private medical records is already surfacing for patients who can afford it. Patients who feel compelled to hold back vital information for fear of discrimination and stigmatization is hardly good health care. Since the ministry is not a health-care provider under the act, patients cannot lock the box against the government. Much has also been made of the statutory right given by most of the laws to patients to look at their own health records and request a correction. But correction does not permit deletion, only commentary.
All privacy issues arise with electronic health records identifiable to individuals.
Many privacy specialists, even in government, believed that anonymous information would be sufficient for planning and managing the health-care system. Gordon Atherley is a physician and senior partner in the Canadian Healthcare Business Development Institute, a research organization that produces investigative journalism and other research on policy issues ranging from the scientific and clinical to the political. Ont., where he was responsible for establishing Canada s national computerized information service in occupational health and safety.