Comment on medical records

A comment regarding medical records and confidentiality:

Normally one's medical records are confidential. However, when applying for insurance, one signs a waiver that allows the insurance company to access your records. So if the doctor makes a note of it, someone else may see it. Normally your information is confidential unless you voluntarily give away access or "the law" wants to know by issuing a subpoena.

This is one reason why the notion of setting up a system for sharing medical records electronically is a bad idea -- that makes it easier for your private information to get spread around. It's one thing if the insurance company has to actually call up your family doctor's office. Electronic data tends to get copied, leaked, and hacked.