i had not heard about this, and no, i don't have a bracelet. but if it was red and white striped (like a candy cane), i might not object.
there is a lot of shit going on with this type of situation, i think. one side says that medical records need to be centralized, with a centralized system. the other side says that big brother is trying to track us all.
i am closer to the big brother side, but i understand the need for efficiency. i asked a friend of mine about this. he runs hospitals. he said that centralization of information / records is coming whether we like it or not. he also said that the obama administration has said that all have to do it, but has not yet given the promised funding. he said that as soon as it is turned loose, it will be a wave of converting all information to electronic data. the thing is, he told me, is that the obama administration did not specify a centralized system, or the type of system to be used. so it all has come down to sales guys and health networks. my friend lives in western north carolina. he runs 3 hospitals. because he is the 300 pound gorilla in this little corner of the world, he basically picked the system ( i think it is affiliated with GE) and organized it so all of the specialists and doctors in the area will have the same
system. he told me that this is the way it has happened all over the country. teams are ready to go, and waiting on government money. but there are many different methodologies / systems. it is a big fucking nightmare.
another friend of mine works in state government in kentucky. he is an IT guy and an attorney. his job is to counsel the government on what they can and cannot do with the information that they have (like with these bracelets). if it tells you anything about what he thinks -- he stopped using credit cards (pays cash for everything -- which is an anomoly here), keeps all of his finances in an old style paper ledger, and keeps no personal information on his computer. he said the same thing about general / insurance information that my other friend said about medical records - that the systems are fragmented. here, though, i think he sees centralization coming. and i think he is very afraid of it.
in this country, right now, i don't think it is a big thing about "big brother" and all that crap. what i do think is that big business is always looking for more information on consumers. and medical information is one aspect of this. and big business has been proven repeatedly to ignore the interests of the individual for profit.
don't know if that answers your question. i do see problems, though, with completely centralized information tracking everyone.
Bookmarks