I dont know if these violate privacy laws, but this fellow who does medical
checks sends chills down my spine. its really creepy. Time to get the
lawyers out and make him go away....
my gut feeling is that this research activity into medical histories is a
bad thing. I certainly would not use such services in my hiring practices.
-sr
At 10:00 1/9/2001, Robert Guerra wrote:
>Thought i'd forward this to the list for discussion...
>
>Do we know of databases like this contravene existing and/new legislation
>such as c6?
>
>
>
>---------- Forwarded Message ----------
>Date: Monday, January 08, 2001 10:28 AM -0800
>From: Sonia Arrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: CANUCKS: Medical Privacy in Canada
>
>
>Do you know anyone who has had an abortion? If so, they might want to know
>this:
>
>"The Canadian Institute of Health Information, a non-profit spinoff from
>Statistics Canada, has so far created 18 massive databases that offer
>everything from who's had abortions in Canada to profiles of the mentally
>ill."
>
>For more on medical privacy, see this:
>
>http://www.torontostar.com/apps/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=thestar/La
>yout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=978928267281&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=
>968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
>
>Up for sale: Your secret health files
>
>Companies buy medical histories from MDs, nurses
>Tyler Hamilton
>TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
>
>Dr. James Sears calls himself North America's top medical investigator. So
>if you've got any skeletons in your closet, watch out: Prying eyes may be
>watching.
>
>Two years ago, Sears decided to launch a service that performs medical
>background checks for companies wanting to verify the health history of job
>candidates.
>
>The idea was to sniff out records - increasingly in electronic format -
>that reveal undisclosed medical conditions that could result in numerous
>sick days and low productivity somewhere down the road.
>
>``We do something nobody else in Canada does,'' says Sears, founder of The
>Second Opinion, a Toronto-based business. ``In five years, we feel it will
>be as commonplace as checking references on a resume.''
>
>To date, his clients have included Canadian Tire and the Toronto Transit
>Commission.
>
>Sears says he doesn't need access to the Internet to carry out his
>investigations. Rather, his methods are much more simple: Make phone calls
>to doctors' offices and hospitals, and request data from receptionists,
>nurses and administrators who generally have access to computer medical
>records.
>
>Most times he has permission to carry out his checks through consent
>provisions on job applications. ``If you don't, then you have to do a lot
>of hunting and digging. And we have our ways of doing that,'' he says.
>
>
>[...]
>
>Also, Wendy Mesley's Undercurrents just did a show on privacy, you can find
>it here:
>
>
>http://tv.cbc.ca/undercurrents/2000_2001/jan07_01.html#story_1
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
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Sean Rooney;
President and Chief Technical Officer
ColdStream Associates Ltd.
"Just when you learned that IT wasn't safe;"
www.coldstream.ca
416-516-8998
416-374-8823
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