Hey All...
Since billing has not actually come up in this conversation yet I am
glad that I can duck most of the shrapnel that seems to be flying
around. But David said something in a recent post that I really cannot
let go of.
I quote...
"Availability is one of the big arguments why a local hospital wants the
data in their total control. Even then it might not be accessible, but
it makes them feel in control. I had to give a talk at a hospital the
other day and the network wouldn't let them move a file to a machine
across the hall. We had to resort to burning a CD!"
Who controls the data? The patient? He wants to be able to move his data
around as painlessly as possible. The doctor? he wants to make sure that
the Integrity and Availability of the data are assured. The
administration? They view the data as an asset to be protect and
possibly horded?
I recently meet a veteran of the medical community who described the problems
modern medicine to me this way. He said that there were five groups in medicine
who all assume that they were the ones who were in CONTROL (emphasis mine) of
the medical community; Patients, Doctors, Insurance Companies, Drug Companies,
and the Government.
Free Software Really means "Software with which nobody can control
anyone else". Free Software then translates to Free Data! Data which
cannot be used to control someone.
I really wonder why people are so afraid in this country. Afraid to lose
control of their office. Afraid to lose control of their data. Afraid to
move a file across the hall.
A psychologist once told me "Deep fears eventually causes the thing that
we are afraid of".
I think that the greatest lesson that FOSS community has not yet made to
the medical community is that FOSS will prevent them from being
manipulated.
Fred Trotter
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Fred Trotter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
SynSeer
