Re Canada’s Health Data Are In A Shambles (Dec. 8):
I couldn’t agree more, based on an experience I had a few years ago in the emergency department.
“And what drugs have you been prescribed, Mr. Havelaar?” I was disoriented and hadn’t a clue.
It subsequently occurred to me that we carry driver’s licences and health cards which contain chips carrying useful data. Why don’t we employ that to also carry our relevant health information? It could be updated every time we have a medical intervention, and could be read by anyone with the appropriate reader. Furthermore, there would be no privacy issues, as each person would be in charge of sharing their own data.
My doctor, like most of his colleagues, is already fully computerized, so such a plan would also be quite inexpensive to implement.
published December 10, 2021
