Electronic Medical Record Ethical Issues

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Recommended: Risk of privacy in electronic health records

Today, providers store patient’s medical record electronically with an easy access via the Internet to users, stakeholders, and agencies. An easy access provides better patient’s care, but also raises concerns about the safety and confidentiality of the information. Medical records are extremely personal and should never be shared with anyone without patient’s consent or as required by law. Our government has implemented laws to protect the consumer’s health records. Strict enforcement of the laws has been effective in limiting breaches of patient’s confidentiality, although there are plenty of cases where we still find compromised patients’ information. Discussion We use electronic health record to communicate between providers of care and …show more content…

Already in 1846, the first Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association contained the notion of privacy (OTA, 1993). Ethical considerations for electronic health records are security, privacy, confidentiality, data integrity and availability. We can install security officers, encryption, encoding, several layers of security, and train staff to control any breaches in privacy, but it will be all in vain if those who operate the technology do not feel ethically obligated to protect the health record integrity. Other ethical issues that come about in regards to electronic health records are beneficence, fidelity, autonomy and justice. Use of electronic records may place the patient information at risk, but on the other hands the availability and speed of transmission of information can enhance patients’ care and decrease cost. Therefore, the use of EHR holds the promise of beneficence. However, a conflict arises when considering fidelity, autonomy and justice. Patients do not have much control or autonomy over their health record. Fidelity is violated with every breach in confidentiality weather intentional or

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