Elisa Black: Why I’m opting out of My Health Record
ELISA Black signed up to My Health Record years ago but has now opted out it, amid fears that it lacks digital security.
I CONSIDER myself pretty aware when it comes to my own health (cough … hypochondriac … cough) so I signed up for an online health record years ago.
On the face of it, the idea has merit.
A centralised health record that can be accessed by medical professionals to improve treatment, especially for those with complex health issues, makes sense.
I’ve lived all around Australia over the past 20 years, and having to describe my medical history each time I had to find a new doctor was tedious (not to mention potentially wrong – recall of stressful events tends to be patchy for most people).
But recent conversations around the security of that information, and the potential misuse of it down the line, led me to opt out of the My Health Record system this week.
I am very open about my own battles with anxiety.
But the idea of information on the severity of episodes – and medications I have previously been prescribed – being available to other agencies, let alone open to breach due to online security issues, does not sit well with me.
And I am also now a mother of two young children. While their lives have been mostly uneventful in terms of their health so far, I feel it is my responsibility to let them decide when they are adults if they are OK with a life’s worth of their medical information stored online.
I’ve opted them out as well.
If policy changes down the line, could other agencies – besides police and the Australian Taxation Office – gain access to this sensitive information? Insurance companies? Employers?
If, in the future, I, or my children, develop a complex medical problem, I will reconsider.
I have friends who have spoken about how hard it was to keep doctors appraised of the multiple medications and end-of-life requests of older relatives unable to recall that information.
If those running the database can assure us that the information will remain off limits to certain agencies forever, then I will reconsider.
I can see the benefit of having a centralised medical database that health professionals can access. And I can see the benefit of that record including information on what I would like to happen in terms of end-of-life care, when I may no longer be able to speak for myself.
But, until security concerns have been addressed and external agencies denied access for good, I’ll just have to keep having that tedious conversation with doctors.