Thomas Beale schreef: > openEHR supports logical deletion of content in the following way (see > updated Common IM - change_control section of > http://svn.openehr.org/specification/BRANCHES/Release-1.1-candidate/publishing/architecture/rm/common_im.pdf): > > > > - a new Version is created > - VERSION.data is removed. The current way of thinking is that there > has to be a data item there e.g. a Composition, but with its own > content removed. However, I believe we should make VERSION.data 0..1 > to allow complete deletion of the item. Either way should work, but > the first way seems artificial to me. > - VERSION.lifecycle_state is set to deleted (there is a term code for > this in the openEHR terminology) > - commit as usual > > The result is that the view of the EHR now doesn't include the Item > corresponding to the deletion just made (assuming your software > correctly looks at the lifecycle state and handles deleted data > properly). >
> normal option (see e.g. the Suubversion FAQ on this - > http://subversion.tigris.org/faq.html#removal); but nevertheless, it > is always possible at some level. The usual approach is to make it a > special administrator task, with no visible API that would allow > normal software to do it. This doesn't mean however that such a > procedure is not defined, just that it is probably implemtation > specific due to being low level (removing stuff from MySQL would be > different from doing it in say Oracle). It is said in http://www.openehr.org/getting_started/t_openehr_primer.htm that one of the disadvantages of current health-care information systems is the costs and difficulties to maintain them. Having to delete data manually, and thereby having to regard DB-vendor-specifics, OpenEhr-implementor-specifics and OpenEhr-version-specifics makes, in my opinion Openehr, regarding this issue costly and difficult, and even dangerous to maintian. I think, I would never advise some implementor doing this. It is also said on the same webpage that the OpenEhr community is growing, and has members of many countries. One can conclude from this that OpenEhr has the desire to not be nation-specific, and should have features which are needed (f.e. for repairing an errorneous post of data), or even in a minority (f.e. to be local law compliant) of the community. So not having a proper "removal of patients-data or even a complete patient"-record API is in my opinion opposite against some of the OpenEhr goals. ------------ As I read from the referred SVN-FAQ, it states that having implemented a removal functionality is a very difficult issue, but it also states that it is regarded to be necessary, and will be implemented. I quote: "The project has plans, however, to someday implement an *svnadmin obliterate* command which would accomplish the task of permanently deleting information." It would, in my opinion be good when OpenEhr would have this goal too. Thanks Bert Verhees
