Patients Not Allowed Access to Data Collected by Implants in their Bodies

[The Straight Story]

Patients Not Allowed Access to Data Collected by Implants in their Bodies


Medical technology has moved faster than government regulators, leaving some patients unable to access data gathered from their own bodies.

Companies like Medtronic, which make defibrillator implants for adjusting a person’s heartbeat, provide information collected from these devices to doctors, but not to patients. The only way a patient can obtain the data about their own heart functions is through their physician.

Medtronic says it is barred by federal law from turning over the implants’ raw data directly to patients. And even if it could legally do so, it would have to develop a device that would make the data understandable and useful for patients—a task that would take time and money.

Money, according to critics, is what this dilemma is really about. After all, Medtronic is considering selling the aggregate data collected from the implants to health systems or insurance companies.

http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/patients-not-allowed-access-to-data-collected-by-implants-in-their-bodies-121207?news=846418

[Chemisse]

1. If the patient can't understand it, they can work to figure it out.

People should have every right to their own data.

[RC]

2. But if they just give the information to the patients, how can they then over charge when they sell

the information for what the market will bear, on a first come basis to deep pockets, looking to make a profit from it?
Deep pockets could then just cut out the middle man, so to speak, and contact the patient directly to get the same information on the cheep.

[Chemisse]

3. Clearly they want the mass of data

Collecting it one by one from individual patients would be nearly impossible. I just don't see any reason to prevent patients from getting their own info.

[Barack_America]

4. Electrophysiology isn't something you can learn on the web.

Most MDs aren't confident interpreting that kind of data.

And trust me, obsessing over one's own arrhythmias would drive a person nuts.

[Chemisse]

5. Granted, but if someone wants a copy of the results, they should be able to have it

whether they can understand it or not.