The Impact of Health Information Technology on Human Rights

Author(s):  
Shane O’Hanlon

Information technology has the potential to transform healthcare and eradicate many of the inequities seen in the area by improving availability and management of health information. However the use of electronic means to process sensitive health data poses significant risks. Electronic health records have been designed to be more secure than traditional paper records, but there have been notable cases where data has been lost, stolen, or viewed by unauthorised persons. Misuse of information technology can result in severe violations of human rights. In particular the right to privacy can be eroded by inadequate protections which persist in some health systems. This article describes recent developments in the area, analyses legal provisions for protection of health data, outlines examples of rights violations, and proposes future directions.

2015 ◽  
pp. 1381-1392
Author(s):  
Shane O'Hanlon

Information technology has the potential to transform healthcare and eradicate many of the inequities seen in the area. However, the use of electronic means to process sensitive health data poses significant risks. Electronic health records have been designed to be more secure than traditional paper records, but there have been notable cases where data has been lost, stolen, or viewed by unauthorised persons. Misuse of health information technology can result in severe violations of human rights. In particular, the right to privacy can be eroded by inappropriate protections, which still exist in some health systems. This chapter describes the rights framework in healthcare, analyses legal provisions for protection of health data, considers why such protections are necessary, outlines examples of rights violations, and proposes future directions.


Author(s):  
Shane O’Hanlon

Information technology has the potential to transform healthcare and eradicate many of the inequities seen in the area. However, the use of electronic means to process sensitive health data poses significant risks. Electronic health records have been designed to be more secure than traditional paper records, but there have been notable cases where data has been lost, stolen, or viewed by unauthorised persons. Misuse of health information technology can result in severe violations of human rights. In particular, the right to privacy can be eroded by inappropriate protections, which still exist in some health systems. This chapter describes the rights framework in healthcare, analyses legal provisions for protection of health data, considers why such protections are necessary, outlines examples of rights violations, and proposes future directions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
GULNAZ AYDIN RZAYEVA ◽  
AYTAKIN NAZIM IBRAHIMOVA

The development of new technologies also has an impact on human rights. In the previous “epochs” of global information society, it was stated that that traditional rights can be exercised online. For instance, in 2012 (and again in 2014 and 2016), the UN Human Rights Council emphasized that ‘the same rights granted to people, so to speak, in an “offline” manner, must be protected online as well’. This, in its turn, implicitly brought to the reality that the new technetronic society did not create new rights. Though, we should take into consideration that in the digital world national legislative norms that guarantee the confidentiality of personal data often do not catch up with the technological development and, thus, can’t ensure confidentiality online. Therefore, the impact of digitalization on human rights within the frames of international and national laws should be broadly analysed and studied. The article’s objective is to analyze the impact of new technologies on human rights in the context of the right to be forgotten and right to privacy. Because the development of new technologies is more closely linked to the security of personal data. With the formation of the right to be forgotten, it is the issue of ensuring the confidentiality of certain contents of personal data as a result of the influence of the time factor. The authors conclude that, the right to be forgotten was previously defended more in the context of the right to privacy. However, they cannot be considered equal rights. The right to be forgotten stems from a person’s desire to develop and continue his or her life independently without being the object of criticism for any negative actions he or she has committed in the past. If the right to privacy contains generally confidential information, the right to be forgotten is understood as the deletion of known information at a certain time and the denial of access to third parties. Thus, the right to be forgotten is not included in the right to privacy, and can be considered an independent right. The point is that the norms of the international and national documents, which establish fundamental human rights and freedoms, do not regulate issues related to the right to be forgotten. The right to be forgotten should be limited to the deletion of information from the media and Internet information resources. This is not about the complete destruction of information available in state information systems. Another conclusion of authors is that the media and Internet information resources sometimes spread false information. In this case, there will be no content of the right to be forgotten. Because the main thing is that the information that constitutes the content of the right to be forgotten must be legal, but after some time it has lost its significance. The scope of information included in the content of the right to be forgotten should not only be related to the conviction, but also to other special personal data (for example, the fact of divorce).


2012 ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Brian Gugerty ◽  
Michael J. Maranda

This chapter explores the application of Information Technology to healthcare in the United States. Recent developments and trends in healthcare information technology (HIT) are presented and discussed. Widespread adoption of HIT promises to save lives, save money, and improve health. Definitions, descriptions, and examples of electronic health records (EHRs) and personal health records (PHRs) are provided. The significant efforts to broadly and meaningfully adopt HIT over the next several years are discussed. The significant challenges in implementing EHRs are discussed, including transformation of clinical processes. Finally, the impact of HIT on the concept of ownership of the healthcare record and how it may change the relationship between the patient and healthcare provider are explored. Implementing effective HIT on a nationwide scale will require considerable effort.


2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Taylor

The influence of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on domestic law has ensured that the state’s use of technical covert surveillance equipment has become legally regulated over the past twenty years, albeit in a somewhat piecemeal fashion. The passage of the Human Rights Act 1998 will see the development of the "right to respect for private life"; in UK law. This paper seeks to reflect upon the impact that the European Convention has had on the regulation of covert surveillance, and whether there is a theoretical justification for developing the "right to respect for private life"; beyond traditional private spheres and into the public arena. It is argued that overt surveillance in the form of closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) should thus be legally regulated according to the principles established by the European Convention, and that such an extension of the "right to respect for private life"; need not be detrimental to the common good.


In this paper the author describes work towards developing an integrative framework for educating health information technology professionals about technology risk. The framework considers multiple sources of risk to health data quality and integrity that can result from the use of health information technology (HIT) and can be used to teach health professional students about these risks when using health technologies. This framework encompasses issues and problems that may arise from varied sources, including intentional alterations (e.g. resulting from hacking and security breaches) as well as unintentional breaches and corruption of data (e.g. resulting from technical problems, or from technology-induced errors). The framework that is described has several levels: the level of human factors and usability of HIT, the level of monitoring of security and accuracy, the HIT architectural level, the level of operational and physical checks, the level of healthcare quality assurance policies and the data risk management strategies level. Approaches to monitoring and simulation of risk are also discussed, including a discussion of an innovative approach to monitoring potential quality issues. This is followed by a discussion of the application (using computer simulations) to educate both students and health information technology professionals about the impact and spread of technology-induced and related types of data errors involving HIT.


Author(s):  
Brian Gugerty ◽  
Michael J. Maranda

This chapter explores the application of Information Technology to healthcare in the United States. Recent developments and trends in healthcare information technology (HIT) are presented and discussed. Widespread adoption of HIT promises to save lives, save money, and improve health. Definitions, descriptions, and examples of electronic health records (EHRs) and personal health records (PHRs) are provided. The significant efforts to broadly and meaningfully adopt HIT over the next several years are discussed. The significant challenges in implementing EHRs are discussed, including transformation of clinical processes. Finally, the impact of HIT on the concept of ownership of the healthcare record and how it may change the relationship between the patient and healthcare provider are explored. Implementing effective HIT on a nationwide scale will require considerable effort.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Lusiani ◽  
Mary Cosgrove

This chapter examines the challenges of attributing responsibility for the cross-border impacts of tax and financial secrecy policies through “spillover assessments.” Integrating human rights guiding principles into the practice of tax spillover assessments can provide value. Yet a number of tough methodological and political obstacles remain, many of which are inherent to the act of policy impact evaluation more generally. Together, these remaining challenges provide for a fertile future research agenda. Methodologically, the empirical accuracy of tax spillover assessments continues to be thwarted by the failure of governments to ensure access to relevant data, made more complex by the right to privacy concerns of many companies in accessing the microdata which would be so useful in determining the impact of changes in tax policy. Alongside these tough methodological challenges, various political question marks continue to frustrate effective tax spillover assessments.


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