Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Fingerprinting dental patients raises privacy concerns

I am sometimes left scratching my head wondering why the medical (and dental) field are among the first to adopt intrusive technologies. For example, a Winnipeg dentist has started fingerprinting his patients so that they can sign in by just touching a screen. (CBC: Fingerprinting dental patients raises privacy concerns.) Apparently, it improves privacy:

Michael Lasko, registrar of the Manitoba Dental Association, thinks it could be the way of the future for identifying patients in dentistry and medicine.

"It's probably the easiest and most secure method of maintaining patient privacy," said Lasko.

He said fingerprints help patients maintain their anonymity by eliminating the need for conversations about personal health information at the reception desk.

What's next? Implanting RFID chips in patients? Oh, too late.

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