Egypt’s crisis has raised
alarms about national security and economic
impact for Americans if regime change leads
to an anti-US government controlling a
strong ally in the Middle East. This crisis
raises another more personal concern for
Americans that has been overlooked by the
national media: the security and
availability of your electronic medical
records in the event of a government-imposed
“kill switch” for the Internet.
Many Americans still do
not know that hidden in the February 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
known as the “Stimulus” bill, was a
provision that by 2014, physicians,
hospitals, and other medical settings are to
implement electronic medical records keeping
systems. In 2015, penalties will be levied
against physicians and health care
facilities that do not implement use of
electronic medical records.
The government’s plan is
that medical information from physician
consults and other medical visits will be
sent to the Federal Health Information
Technology (HIT) bureau in Washington, D.C.
to provide individual medical data for the
federally run Comparative Effectiveness
Research coordinating panel of experts.
According to a provision also hidden in the
“Stimulus” bill, this panel of
government-appointed experts is designated
with deciding what treatment is allowed for
individuals, based on government criteria
for both cost and effectiveness.
Why do the events
happening in Egypt raise concerns about
these provisions in the 2009 Stimulus Bill?
Think about it. The authoritarian government
in power in Egypt quickly realized that
communication via the Internet was
furthering the spread of the protest
movement. Without warning, the Egyptian
government suddenly shut down the Internet
to stop protesters’ ability to organize
rallies.
Of course, protesters’
communication was not the only communication
that was interrupted with this draconian
“kill switch.” Financial systems, such as
on-line banking, ATMs, and wire transfers,
were affected, along with hundreds of other
businesses that could no longer communicate
with other offices around the world.
Medical communication via
the Internet also came to a halt. Suppose
your local doctor or hospital Emergency Room
must obtain your electronic medical record
via the Internet from the Health Czar’s
cyberspace “cloud,” with access controlled
by Washington elites.
What happens to your
ability to get rapid medical treatment if
you find yourself in a medical
emergency that occurs in the middle of a
political crisis and the government has
shut down the Internet? At that point, you
will appreciate first hand the true tyranny
of ObamaCzarCare.
The President already has
the authority under the Emergency Powers Act
to do just this, so it isn’t hard to take
the next step and imagine what can happen to
patients if we physicians only have access
via the Internet to people’s electronic
records.
I prefer the old
fashioned paper medical records that are
available to me and my patients 24/7 – even
when monsoon storms knock out electricity
and the computer is out, or we are hit with
a high-altitude detonation of a nuclear
device that generates an electromagnetic
pulse (EMP) which knocks out all electronic
systems, or our own government decides
suddenly to implement an emergency internet
“kill switch.” Any of these scenarios could
be lifethreatening if you have a medical
emergency and all your information is tied
up in computer systems that are no longer
accessible.
Paper has a purpose.
Paper medical records also serve valuable
functions, even in the computer and Internet
age. I have grave concern about moving
totally to electronic medical records as I
watch the problems that occur with
disruptions to Internet access – whatever
the cause – and the problems that occur with
breach of computer systems security to steal
confidential information.
Remember the hacking of
Pentagon and NASDAQ computer systems?
Remember the massive Wikileaks confidential
data dump on the web? How do you feel about
this type of leak of your personal private
medical information? David Blumenthal, M.D.,
the President’s former “health information
czar,” acknowledged “No infrastructure
exists in most areas of the country for
secure health information exchange among
providers and between providers and
consumers.”
Medical privacy?
Apparently it is more important, according
to this administration’s health czars to
achieve the government’s efficiency goals
than to insure your personal medical
information is kept between you and your
physicians.
Many of us who work with
patients every day are very worried about
the potential for harm to patients under a
system in which medical information is
controlled by government-appointed central
planners. Physicians need immediate access
to critical information, and we also realize
the sacred responsibility we have to keep
our patients medical information private –
both of these functions are potentially
seriously harmed by government control of
our health information.
Have the Obama
Administration central planners really
thought about the many potentially serious
ramifications to having all our medical
records concentrated in one place and
accessible only via the Internet? Or, is
that the unstated purpose of our new “ObamaCzarCare:”
government-controlled health services and
control of medical information?
By limiting your freedom
to get the care you need, when you need it,
and with whom you choose…and by infringing
on your medical privacy, the government has
ever-increasing control of your life.
Americans face many
dangers that lie in government control of
electronic medical records coupled with
government control of access to
communication via the Internet.
Just thinking about a
government-controlled kill switch can
make you ill.
© Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D.
February 15, 2011
Dr. Vliet speaks as an independent physician,
not as an official spokesperson for any
organization. Dr. Vliet has no financial ties to
any health care system, pharmaceutical company,
or health insurance plan. Her allegiance and
advocacy is to and for patients. Her medical
website is www.herplace.com.
Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D. is a women’s health
specialist and the Founder of HER Place: Health
Enhancement Renewal for Women, Inc. with medical
practices in Tucson AZ and Dallas TX. Dr. Vliet
is President of International Health Strategies,
Ltd., a global healthcare and education service
company whose mission is twofold: liberty and
privacy in the choice of treatment options and
preservation of the Hippocratic tradition of
focus on the individual patient.
Dr. Vliet is the 2007 recipient of the Voice
of Women award from the Arizona Foundation for
Women in recognition of her pioneering advocacy
for the overlooked hormone connections in
women’s health. Dr. Vliet has appeared on FOX
NEWS, Cavuto, Stuart Varney Show, Fox and
Friends and syndicated radio shows across the
country addressing these critical issues. She
has been an invited speaker for numerous
healthcare Town Hall presentations, and guest
speaker at international conferences on how
healthcare regulation changes affect both
physical and financial health.
Dr. Vliet's books include: It’s My
Ovaries, Stupid!; Screaming To Be Heard:
Hormonal Connections Women Suspect-- And
Doctors STILL Ignore; Women, Weight and
Hormones; The Savvy Woman's Guide to PCOS,
The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Testosterone.
Dr. Vliet received her M.D. degree and
internship in Internal Medicine at Eastern
Virginia Medical School, then completed
specialty training at Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine. She received B.S. and M.Ed.
degrees from The College of William and Mary
in Virginia. Dr. Vliet is a Director of the
Association of American Physicians and
Surgeons, and member of The International
Menopause Society, The International Society
of Gynecological Endocrinology, American
Society of Reproductive Medicine, The
Heritage Foundation, The Jamestown Society,
Daughters of the American Revolution, Order
of First Families of Virginia, and the Order
of Descendants of Ancient Planters.
Dr. Vliet’s medical and educational
website is www.HerPlace.com For more on
healthcare reform, go to
www.TakeBackMedicine.com and
www.aapsonline.org
To book Dr.
Vliet for interviews, healthcare talks, or
for permission to publish articles, call
520-797-9131 (MST).
